Change Your Image
ganpon
Reviews
J'attendrai le suivant... (2002)
Nice short film
This is a story about a woman who wants to find true love. She finds a man on the subway who announces that he is looking for a woman. He seems to be a nice funny guy, and he asks anyone who's interested to get off at the next station. The woman looks interested in the man. We can read the change of feelings of the woman in this film. The woman expresses the character's feelings well though she doesn't have any dialog in the film. She only has the facial expression to express her feelings, but it isn't difficult to understand. The main character who has the dialog is the man who is looking for the woman. He speaks so emotionally that all people in the train must have believed that he is really searching for true love. What was surprising was my impression of him changed completely in the very last scene. The film is very short, but the story and character's feelings are well expressed in a simple way. In that sense, I think this it is well created as a short film.
Porcelain Unicorn (2010)
Amazing
An old man who has a box comes to the front of a house. He seems to remember the old time when he was a child in Germany during World War Two. Three little boys are looking around the house then they hear the noise from the closet. Two of them run away but one boy goes into the closet. He finds there a little Jewish girl but then, the Nazi soldiers push into the house...
This film is only three minutes long but it shows a human bond well. This is the story about the memory of the old man and we can know that he has kept the incident in his memory for a long time. The unicorn plays an important role in the film too. The unicorn given by the Jewish girl was broken by the Nazi soldiers, but at last it connects the heart of the boy and girl. I thought that the story is well-thought-out despite of the limited dialog and I admire the way they used the Jewish Star of David to express that the girl is Jewish.
Two Strangers Who Meet Five Times (2017)
Good film
The story is about two men who meet in five different situations in their lives. However, the scene is not in the order and the first time comes into the fourth scene. Therefore, the story begins from the second scene where they are quarreling at the cash point. As time goes by, we can find that their relationship gets better even if neither of them remembers the other each time.
At the first scene which is the second time they meet, Alistair treats the Asian man, Samir, badly. From the second scene which is the third time they meet, that does not happen. I think people watching this film think: 'Why does Alistair treats Samir so badly?' in the first scene. And the reason for it is revealed in the fourth scene which is the first time they meet when they are children. I thought the story shows Alistair's change of mind about how he treats other people. What is important is not the race but the humanity. In that sense, I thought that it is a good film.
The Mass of Men (2012)
Beginning is an Ending
The man who is unemployed is late by three minutes for the appointment at the job centre. A woman advisor there for the job-seekers asks him to sign for the money withheld for two weeks otherwise he won't get the money for four weeks. The man gets angry for her attitude but the woman blames him for his laziness.
This film shows the strict standard of the welfare service in Britain. Even though the man was late, it was only three minutes and the woman didn't know that he was late at the beginning. However, the man couldn't get the money he wanted.
The most impressive point of this film is the structure. The film begins from the video captured by the CCTV and it is exactly the same scene as the ending. The author intentionally puts the last scene at the very start so that the viewer could understand the meaning of the first scene in the end.
I think you should watch this film two times with everything understood in the second time.
Three Days in Kamakura (2012)
Full of non-direct expression
A British man is teaching English to children in an English school in Japan. There is a child whose mother seems to be busy so that she is always late to pick him up. One day, his mother does not come to pick him up. The man calls the mother several times but she does not answer the phone. What happened to her? And what is the relationship to the accident that happened in Kamakura recently?
In the film, David, the man teaching English, lives together with his Japanese partner Keiko. They are a general family but they don't seem to have happy lives. That is because Keiko cannot have a child for some reason. However, there is nothing said in dialogue that tell us this fact. We have to speculate from a scene in the shower. I thought that this film expresses many facts non-directly. The dialogue is kept to a minimum and the other information we need is expressed by the characters' actions and facial expressions.
Otousan no tabako (2007)
heartwarming film
A little girl is buying a cigarettes from a vending machine on her way back home. She finds a high school girl also buying cigarettes there, but the little girl runs away. When she gets back home, she is caught by her mother buying the cigarette. In the back of the house, her father is lying on the bed and is not very healthy. He askes her to buy the cigarette again. The girl goes to the vending machine again, but it is broken and the money doesn't come back. She becomes unable to buy the cigarette and she helplessly starts wandering around the town.
The point I liked about the film is that every character appearing in the film has a meaning. There are many cigarette smokers in this film, but each of them plays an important role, in particular, the man who was replenishing the vending machine. I think the little girl usually won't give up the money easily and if the story did not include him, I thought the film would be a little strange and uncomfortable. I also felt that each character is typical to Japan. For example, I guess that there are few people like the OL smoking in the park who is indifferent to people who they don't know. Also, the delinquent youth who has his cigarette packet stolen by the girl might not appear if the film was not set in Japan. The main message of the film is that children cannot make the right decision by themselves. We can think again about how we should behave not only in front of children but also in our daily lives.
Father and Daughter (2000)
The family bond
The film begins from the scene where the father and daughter are riding on a bicycle. When they get to the lake, the father gets on to the boat and rows to somewhere. The little daughter is left behind and the time passes. She becomes old and she visits the lake again, but it has dried up. She goes inside where the lake in the same direction that her father did. Father rowing the boat to somewhere is the metaphor of the father's death. The daughter lives the rest of her life without her father. When I watched the film for the first time, I couldn't really understand the message of the film. However, after I watched it several times, I could realise the strong bond as a family. To tell the truth, there are some parts that I couldn't understand, for example, the meaning of the lake transition. Nevertheless, I thought that each of the people can imagine the message in their own way. I think many people who watched this film would be moved, especially if you are a father with a daughter just like in this film.
The Lunch Date (1989)
Don't believe yourself too much
A woman drops her belongings and misses the train which she wanted to get on. While waiting for the next train, she decides to have a lunch. She orders a salad and puts it onto her table, then leave the table to get a fork and napkin. When she returns to the table a man is sitting there eating the salad. She seems to be angry about it and starts to eat the salad with him. The man gets two cups of coffee and they look like they are having a nice lunch. The woman leaves the table and heads to the train station. However, she notices that she left her belongings in the restaurant, and on her return she finds there...
In this film, the man eating the salad hardly says anything. Therefore, we have to read his mind from his actions. However, I think the impression of the man changes after we watch the ending, so you may take a different perspective when you watch the film for the second time. Overall I learned from the film that what you believe is true is not always true.
Whacked! (2011)
revenge story
Whacked is a revenge story which begins with people in New York city being whacked by something. We don't know the reason, but it seems to have something to do with golf and the man collecting the golf balls. We are going to find out what does the character think and what is the truth. The biggest characteristic of the film is that there is no dialog in the film. However, the character was well acted, and I could easily understand what he feels and thinks. The black and white movie makes us feel the old time too. I felt that some people might really like the film but some people don't, for the reason that you might not sympathize with the character's action. However, the film is short and has good tempo so it worth checking out.
Fish Out of Water (2005)
Realize the happiness you already have
The city is crowded with traffic. To avoid traffic and get a quiet commute to work, a man has chosen to row over the sea in a boat. During the commuting for work, two different women find him. The one fishing seems to fancy him, and the other is stuck in the traffic jam driving her car. We will find out what will happen to the man and search out for the changes of the relationships between the two women.
The story is very easy to understand in the points of location and each character's feelings. The same location is used in the film several times but the appearance of man changes which express the man's feelings clearly. The action of other characters represents the characteristics well. The content of the story has consistency and I enjoyed watching the film. I can recommend this film to a wide range of people.