Reviews

There are heavy, deep, end of the world time loop movies (which this fun flick references), but this is not one of them.

A very light-hearted, character-driven, single location, short and fun, really, really fun enjoyable movie. If you're nearing 50, and thinking there is no more fun in life, this is for you. If you're a young aspiring worker giving it all for your workplace, this is also for you.

No one dies (except, probably, a pigeon) and injuries are light. At worst, the characters are going through your standard work week, they won't suffer hell or worse. Movie wise, it's doing the job and more, actors are fantastic, one of those "hidden gems", as they call it.

This sequel to the 2019 movie plays with the same tropes, i.e. Deliberate over exaggerated acting (which by itself is quite impressive), stereotypes (positive or negative) about local prefectures and behaviors, and some subtle or not that subtle homosexual or asexual depiction of characters. And it plays all those tropes very well. Even more so that the first opus, the movie is funny as hell, provided one has the right references. "Speaking Japanese" is clearly not enough, it requires some understanding of modern and not so modern pop cultural trends or memes. One has to be able to make the difference between local accents and expressions (granted, quite typical). This sequel is definitely not a film that will be easily exported, compared to the first movie where the overall scenario was more "easy to grasp" for foreign audiences, even without getting all the references. .

It's funny, very funny... if you came to IMDB for a review in English, it may mean you are considering a watch.... A sub will be tough, as play on words and local accents make some situation difficult to understand in writing. And a dub.... no idea how one could make a dub work....

The life, death and many events around the life of warlord Oda Nobunaga have been the source and inspiration of many movies. In The Legend and Butterfly, we get to see an heavily fictionnalized version of Oda defining years through a different lens, his relationship with Kicho/Nohime, his legal wife, of which not that much is known historically. This allows for a lot of flitting through actual events peperred with a mature love story (which is more of a "relation" between two very different characters than some sort of romance novel), fortunately not shaved down the throat of the audience.

Kimura Takuya professionaly portrays an Oda slowly but surely drifting from a countryside minor warlord to a ruthless borderline cruel master of the country, while Haruka Ayase has a very solid presence on screen as Kicho. A minor grip, the story spans over three decades but the main characters don't seem to age more than three minutes (whereas second roles do seem age a bit... go figure....). Also, there is -a lot- of Nanban (foreign at the time) music instruments being played at various time in the movie, to a point this becomes distracting.

Even if if perfectly works with only a little histoy knowledge, the movie may be appreciated more if one has a basic knowlegde of the events at the time, from the Okehazama battle to the burning of Enryaku temple. Nothing that a quick read from wikipedia can not solve.

Obviously a lot of money has gone into this , from the reconstitution of Azuchi castle to Portuguese ships, the gorgeous settings, etc. It shows, but there arent't many battles on screen so viewers should not expect an action movie.

Overall a surprisingly good flick.

Focusing on the life of Godai is an interesting angle for this historic biopic.

However, putting aside the various innacuracies, this movie suffers from embelisshing its characters to a point where they become nothing short of idealist caricatures.

Tengaramon tries to be a semi-serious movie, but events are so exaggereated and acting is so over-the-top that it's extremely difficult to take it seriously. The Ruronin Kenshin series showed it's perfectly acceptable to have some exaggerated historic fiction, too bad Tengaramon did not embrace what it is...

Production values remain excellent, but this movie leaves a bad aftertaste.

Top notch acting, impressive costumes, and some attention to historical details bring to life a period of declining splendor of the Yoshiwara district.

A young Yuko Natori brillantly plays the role of a countryside girl indentured into prostitution by her father slowly but surely learning, accepting, and finally proudly embracing her role as an Oiran, a high-ranking prostitute in Yoshiwara, in the late Meiji period.

The period depicted is quite uncommon, the topic handled is not for the whole family and the viewers unfamiliar with Yoshiwara may have a lot to digest.

There is little sugarcoating about the very rough life in the district and it's not an erotic movie (though there are a couple suggestive scenes, and quite some nudity). If you factor in the few violent shots it makes for a quite "heavy" piece, clearly not for everyone. Don't expect some happy ending or a consensual and moral message. People die, people live, there is no karma, good deeds are not specifically rewarded, bad deeds are not punished.

It makes for an "interesting" viewing, but "entertaining" or not will depend on the expectations of the viewers. It works better as an historical drama rather than a human one.

(Note there are no geishas featured in this movie, but full fledge prostitutes).

This adaptation of the historical novel by Ryotaro Shiba.navigates between, well, adapting the book, and (trying to) find its own footing in history.

A much more truthful take on the turmoil in mid XIXth century Japanese society and the events that led to Meiji Restoration than the more "general public"-friendly Last Samurai, Baragaki focuses on the eventful life of Hijikita Toshizo, the vice-commandant of the Shinsengumi, the elite shogunate militia in charge of the protection of Kyoto when the central shogunate power was crumbling.

Most of the characters in the movie are based on historical existing figures (and props to Harada for including the "real" last Samurai, Jules Brunet, maybe as a small nudge to Last Samurai). Like Harada's previous historical features Sekigahara and the Emperor in August, Baragaki is -packed- with references that casual viewers may find hard to pick. The movie does not pause, things move quite fast, the dumbing down is limited, the background and explanations about the balance of power at the time are left to a minimum (besides a few scenes that are very obvious exposition dialogues). The viewer feels thrown right in the 1860s. The spectacle, even without the references in mind, is enjoyable enough, with a couple well shot swordfights and battles here and there to keep the non-history buffs interested in a flick filled with political talks about the power balance between various factions, treason, and treachery.

The movie is not for everyone. Readers of the novel will find that some characters seem close to their descriptions in the book (Okita Soji, specifically, seemed to jump from the pages) and the numerous aficionados of the Shinsengumi will have a lot to discuss...