Reviews

A boy's dream is to marry his elementary school teacher. He gives her a ring and tells his love, but she has a fiancé. The boy meets the rival, and decides to fight a duel.

No one thinks the young student can marry his teacher, even if he has a crush on her seriously. So, at first, I think the story is funny and fantastic. I like the scene that he writes down his wish for marriage as a plan in 2015. He looks very pure and cute for me. Generally speaking, a child gets more serious when he is treated as a child or ignored by grown-ups. The boy in the film is not an exception, and he acts in an excessive way. I have to admit that the story is serious, not only fantastic.

The message in the film is "Don't make light of children."

At night, something strange flies above a small house. It is a spaceship with aliens. In the ship, a young alien tries to control a bright light. Then, a sleeping man in the house is lifted!

In the first scene, a swing makes a noise outside the house. It looks like a portent of a strange thing. I can't expect what will happen, and I'm a little scared. However, this film is not scary but funny. Especially, the aliens are comical. Their shapes, expressions, movements and words are all humorous. I can enjoy the good relationship between a beginner and an expert.

The sound design is also nice. When the younger alien makes a mistake, a funny sound is used. When he does well, a beautiful music is used. The contrast is really good. And the words of aliens don't make any sense to us, but play an important role in the sound effect.

This film shows a daily life of a couple. They live in Kamakura, a beautiful city in Japan. They love each other, but the wife sometimes looks unhappy. One day, the husband comes home with a boy, the student in his English class, and their ordinary life changes a little.

The wife and the husband see everything in a slightly different way. For example, she suffers in a relationship with a woman in the neighborhood but he doesn't care so much. And when the boy comes to their home, their reaction is quite different. Is it because the wife is Japanese and the husband is British? Perhaps their problem is not so simple. She can't have a baby, but he likes children very much and maybe she does too.

They live near the sea, and scenery is always beautiful. However, when they are sad, the sea looks sad and when they are happy, it looks happy. And the choice of language is interesting. She can speak both English and Japanese, and she usually talks with her husband in English. When she uses Japanese to her husband, she has a special feeling that she can't say in English. It's touching.

A girl is dressing for the Christmas party. Her name is Lynne. She, her brother and her father, walk on a railway track and meet a woman with her two children. Lynne doesn't know them, but her father decides to take the children to the party.

I was surprised at the first scene of the film. For the first few minutes, I can't see the face of actors. I can see only hands, legs and other parts of body of Lynne's family, but they seem to be busy and happy on the nice Christmas day. I like the unique camera work. The way of using light is also nice. For example, the straight metal rail track at night is quite different from the same place in the day. Though the rail is mysterious in the daytime, it is more beautiful and impressive with light at night. I like the camera work, acting, music, and story. However, I can't understand the title 'Gasman'.

A woman buys a salad in a café in a station, and she leaves her seat for a while. When she returns, a strange man is eating her salad. She decides to share her lunch with him until the next train comes.

Every time something happens, the woman shows her feelings. She gets upset, gets surprised, gets angry and laughs. She is attractive and has an expressive face. Even when she is angry and raises her voice, nobody can hate her. This is a black-and-white film, but the sound design is nice and provides color to the woman and her surroundings. For example, when the two people have a lunch, they can hear the nice sound of eating a fresh salad. However, out of the café, the station is very noisy. The sound such as an announcement of the departure, the sound of a running train and talking voice helps to produce the quiet lunch. I also like the music used when she walks alone. It really matches her mood.

One morning, a man with a bunch of papers is waiting for a train to go to the office. Suddenly, a sheet of paper is blown off by a strong wind. It flies to a pretty woman and clings to her face. At his office, he has another chance to find her. He stops working and tries to contact her by paper planes. He tries again and again, and finally the last paper with her lipstick mark flies to… I like his character because he works as an adult, but his challenge looks like that of a young boy. He can express his feelings openly. For example, he surprises like a child when he finds her by chance. And he remembers her smile and can't stop himself acting as a child. Even his serious expression looks funny. It is a black-and-white film basically, but red and white are used effectively. First, a red lipsticks mark is a symbol of his love. Second, many non-descriptive sheets of white paper attract us. The animation of sheets flapping, dancing and spinning in the wind is really beautiful. And it matches the mood of the music. It is perfected as art.

On a table, there are many small ornaments. The main character in this film is a snowman in a snow globe. He watches other knick-knacks with sunglasses. He wants to approach them because they have everything that he doesn't have. He yearns for a warm and sunny climate, lively atmosphere and an attractive woman. So, he tries to escape out of his snow globe.

The main point of this movie is the expressive face the snowman has. Generally, a snowman melts with time and its face changes. However, the snowman can move his eyes, nose and mouth easily and change his face freely. Therefore we can enjoy seeing his loneliness, pleasure, irritation and other feelings. There is no dialogue in the film, but we can imagine words of the snowman by his face instead. Moreover, nice music and humorous sounds can serve as the snowman's word. Especially, the sound that he hits the glass or he runs in the water is really cute. Some names of warm places such as Miami, Egypt and Jamaica also help our understanding.

A young girl gets cigarettes from a vending machine. It is of course not for herself but for her father. However, hidden cigarettes are found by her mother and she is scolded. On the other hand, her sick father asks her to buy cigarettes again.

She apologizes to her father for not giving cigarettes, and to her mother for not keeping her promise. She is very confused between her unreasonable father and strict mother. However, the girl acts like a grown-up. For example, she says 'Don't tell a lie.' to her father and 'You'll die if you smoke it' to a young smoker. She always hears these words from her mother.

She has strong will, never cries and does her best. She wants to please her father but wants him to live. Both are her real feelings. So it's hard for me to see her tear at the last scene.

'Whacked!' is a film that is filled with tension from beginning to end.

In the center of a big city, people suddenly fall down as if they were shot in the back. People around them are surprised, ambulance sirens scream, and the atmosphere of the street changes completely. Then the scene changes to a golf driving range. Some people practice golf there, and a suspicious man gathers golf balls and prepares for something.

Playing golf is a kind of amusements or sports, but the man playing golf looks violent and scary for some reason.

At the end of the film, I could understand the meaning of the title, 'Whacked!'.

Father and Daughter is a quiet animated film. It includes nice music and some natural sounds, but no dialogue. The sound of turning wheels or bicycle bells sounds very sad because this is a sorrowful story about a father and his daughter.

A girl cycles with her father and she is left behind on a shore. She comes to the shoreline again and again by bicycle.

I couldn't help thinking about the life of the daughter as bicycle wheels turn. The wheels are the symbol of her life. In the film, she always cycles to the same place, but the situation changes as she grows up. For example, the speed of her bicycle changes. Sometimes she can't go easily against strong head wind. It may suggest the difficulty of her life. This is very touching film, and I'd like to see it again with my family and think about my life.