Archive for the Live Action Category


Live Action: Love My Life

January 24th, 2007

While I was in Tokyo, I had the chance to see the movie based on the terrific, Yuri manga by Yamaji Ebine, Love My Life. I won’t be going over the characters or plot of the story in detail, because if you haven’t read the manga, there’s just about no way you’d see the movie, so if you’re unfamiliar with this manga, please take a second to read my original review of LML. (For folks coming to this blog from Afterellen.com, most of the next paragraph is relevant to earlier posts about my trip to the world’s largest comic market, Comiket. If you want to know the story of the manga – and movie – read the link above.)

Looking at it now, I realize that we were *incredibly* lucky, because the theater we saw it at, N Theater Shibuya was a very few blocks from Bruce’s hotel. I only today learned that it played at like *two* theaters. What were the chances that one would be in walking distance from where Bruce was staying? Oh, and btw, it was immediately above the Shibuya Animate, which meant that the next day, we knew where we were going for that, too. Did I mention “lucky?”

The movie version of Love My Life was very sweet. There were some number of changes from the manga, which I’ll detail below, but in general, it was a really cute movie with an undoubtedly happy end where the girl got the girl. Totally worth having seen for that alone. I sincerely hope that there’s a US release.

The biggest weakness of the movie was something I have encountered over and over and over in Japanese live-action films: the pacing. This movie was almost 90 minutes long and when I saw the running time,I was skeptical as to how they’d stretch the story…especially as the first few chapters of the manga/movie zip by in rapid succession. So it starts off light and fast and happy, and then, suddenly, stops dead. At just about the time any American movie would start wrapping up, Japanese movies insert 20-30 minutes of absolutely nothing. It kills the energy, sucks the life out of the movie and makes my wife get fidgety. ^_^

In this case, after having established how sad Ichiko is, we are treated to 20 more minutes of her being sad. Sad, sad, sad. She’s so sad. And when the end comes, there’s another pacing issue, but if I complain about that I’m just being a hard ass.

Well, I’m a hard ass. Here goes. Eri has called Ichiko after their long separation and instead of calling back, Ichiko starts running. And running. And running. Eri, waits and waits and waits, while Ichiko appears to run across the freakin’ country. *Just* as Eri begins to turn away unhappily, Ichiko comes running up. Uh…wouldn’t a phone call back saying “I’m coming!” have been a good idea right then?

The actress who plays Ichiko is…well…okay. Where the Ichiko of the manga is pleasant, hard working, smart and cute, this Ichiko is dreamy and over-smiley happy. She plays the role like a baby seal you’re waiting to watch be clubbed.

On the completely other hand, Eri is played perfectly. It’s immediately apparent that she, while not being a gabber, has a deep and rich inner dialogue – and you want to be part of it. I think that she was just about perfect.

And the rest of the cast is pretty great, too. The actor who played Ichiko’s father hit the nail right on the crumpet with his portrayal – and Ichiko’s gay friend Take was immediately likeable and real.

There were a few things changed for the movie. For one thing – the hair. In the manga, Ichiko, and later, her mother’s former lover, have dyke-y short hair. In the movie, both have shortish normal cuts. And the bald skinhead girl who piques Ichiko’s fancy is turned into a mohawk-wearing punk. No clue why.

Another thing that was changed, which I thought really odd, was the soundtrack. The manga has a distinctly classic jazz background. You can’t miss it, as jazz music and musicians are mentioned nearly every chapter. The movie was given a peppy, pop music soundtrack by noodles, that was, nonetheless, exceptionally appealing. The opening theme, particularly, was darn cute.

The final thing that I could not help but notice was that Take merely announced that he had nabbed himself a boyfriend. In the manga we meet Joe, an African-American student. I was sort of sad to see that they didn’t show Joe. I was wondering how they were going to handle that – the fact that that they didn’t bother bugged me a tad.

The story is reasonably close to the manga, until the extra inserted bit at the end, as Ichiko kills her Eri-less time by trying to become a translator like Papa. The beginning, particularly, is very, very good. Their relationship is sweet (I know that I wasn’t the only one in the theater holding my girl’s hand during a few of the lovey-dovier scenes) and quite realistic.

Ratings:

Cinematography – A little precious, 6
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 10
Service – 3

If only someone would edit that slow bit, the whole movie would be a real keeper. ^_^





Yuri Live Action Movie: The Girl

June 2nd, 2006

Sometimes you’re just in the mood for a bit of French lesbian film noir. And then The Girl is exactly what you’re looking for. (At the moment, I’m looking for it too – my copy seems to have walked off after Onna! ^_^;)

But I digress. The Girl is a lovely piece of lesbian pulp film that manages to be fun and goofy and still remain sexy and slick.

Butchy Agathe De La Boulaye (who is just lovely in her clothes) falls for cabaret singer Claire Keim. I know – could it get ANY more stereotypical!? Keim’s male lover is not about to take this kind of insult sitting down, so sexy sulky stalking escalates into violence and a typically Gallic ending. Because The Girl plays out like a smoky, liquor-scented pulp novel, you can relax and watch the pretty, pretty people with low mental commitment, but high pleasure.

Even the director’s comments are interesting – this is just about the only DVD I’ve ever bothered watching the movie with the commentary, and I enjoyed it. It wasn’t a lesson in directing or anything, but the stories that make up the filming of this low-budget, tight-deadline lesbian noir are, in their own way, as good a yarn as the movie itself.

Ratings:

Cinematography: 8 (espcially considering the budget and deadlines)
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 10
Service – 3 (Its much too arty for boy porn)

Overall – 8 and a bowl of popcorn.

Wish I could find my damn copy. ^_^





Live Action: Ace o Nerae! Episode 9

May 9th, 2006

I very briefly reviewed the Live Action Ace o Nerae TV series in July 2004. If you haven’t yet seen it, I strongly recommend doing so. It’s not yuri, but the akogare Hiromi feels for Ochoufuujin is handled really well on both sides. In fact, all of the cast nail their roles. It’s just excellent all the way around.

The television series ended with Episode 9, but as I clicked around looking for a good picture, I find that there is a second epilogue episode that covers later events in the manga. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t click on the “Album” link. The pictures are pretty much a dead giveaway. (No pun intended…)

So, Episode 9 of the television series is, for the most part, a live-action version of the anime movie/OAV. The story of the OAV was Hiromi’s battle to become the representative of Japan at an international competition. Of course her ultimate rival and partner is Ochoufuujin herself, Ryuuzaki Reika. At the end of the movie Reika and Hiromi fly off to America (ooohh! lesbian code phrase!) together. Reika is in her usual girly outfit, complete with pink bow in her hair, but Hiromi has chosen to travel in a three-piece white suit and tie and a slightly butchier haircut than previously. They make a lovely lesbian couple. LOL

Unfortunately for us, the live-action version is not completely faithful to the movie. While Reika and Hiromi still have to face off, only one will be going to America. But, before you despair, let me say that the tennis match between the two women was as full of sexual tension, love, akogare, etc, etc, as anyone could have ever wanted. It was *brilliant.* The fact that Hiromi flies off with Toudou – who is a really good guy that I’ve liked in every version of this story – does not lessen by one whit the tension of this final battle. This tennis match was sex, pure and simple. If you are hardcore “cannot STAND to see Hiromi with Toudou”, then stop after the tennis match. But watch that match!

Ratings:

Cinematography – 6 Nothing they can do, no matter how many slow-notion and effects they use, will ever really make it seem like anyone on the show can really play tennis…but that aside, it’s pretty good.

Story – 8 Mmm, competent women. Competing.

Characters – 9 If you’re not in love with these characters by now, you’re hopeless.

Yuri – 7 Did I mention how good the tennis match is?

Service – ? What would you eroticize in this…oh, wait, women wear skirts for tennis. Ugh, okay, 4, but how sad is it that I can even think this way? There goes another piece of my soul….

Overall – 8

Your milegae may vary, but I watched this episode twice. In a row. THAT’S how good the tennis game is. ^_^





Live Action: D.E.B.S.

March 8th, 2006

D.E.B.S. is a really cute idea with one massively huge fatal flaw.

The movie, in case you don’t know, is a longer version based on a short of the same name that made the rounds of G/L/B/T film fests a few years ago. The short got a lot of positive feedback, and the director, Angela Robinson, got funding for a longer movie-length version. The premise in both is the same – that there is an elite force of schoolgirls who fight evil and blah blah blah. Oh, and wear fetish versions of a Catholic school uniform. Of course.

Here is the official “Product Description” from the Amazon website, because frankly, it says it all, fairly coherently:

Sultry crime boss Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster, The Fast and the Furious) is back in the states (sic) and the D.E.B.S.- an elite team of paramilitary college co-ed superspies- are hot on her trail. But when their top agent, gorgeous Amy Bradshaw (Sara Foster, The Big Bounce), mysteriously disappears after coming face to face with the attractive young villainess, the D.E.B.S. begin a full-scale search for Lucy’s secret lair, never suspecting that Amy may not want to be rescued after all, in this smart and sexy spy spoof about love at first gun sight.

Okay. That about covers the plot in PR-speak. Here’s the good and bad.

Notably, the first time the DEBS are surveilling Lucy, they think she’s meeting a top assasin to plot someting evil. In fact, she’s on a blind date. I thought that was amusing.

And that’s what this movie is – amusing. It’s not really *good*, or well-acted or well-written or anything, but it is a nice hour+ worth of entertainment.

The attraction between Lucy and Amy is pretty solid. When they kiss it looks just like a kiss. They don’t kiss *enough*, but we are led to believe that they do more than that, with the usual implied bed scene. (I notice that this movie is rated PG-13. For once, I actually agree that the rating is spot on.) So no heavy bed scenes, but you know, it wouldn’t have made this movie better, and woud have just gotten tiresome, so it’s no loss to overall enjoyment.

Now, here’s the fatal flaw – the prologue of the movie tells us that buried within the SAT test is another test, the one the D.E.B.S. organization uses to recruit possible operatives. Amy, our lead, is supposed to have been the “perfect score.” They beat this to DEATH in the movie, bludgeoning both Amy and the viewer with the concept repeatedly. In frustration, Amuy finally asks what the test tested.

This is a multi-part flaw.

1) They told us in the prologue what it tested. So, how bad is our short-term memory?

The test tested the ability to lie.

2) Why would “lying” be a good quality for a spy? I’d much prefer to have someone with superior tactical abilities than someone who could lie. Also someone who could shoot, stay up for days on end without sleep, and who had excellent hearing, eyesight and memory. But that’s just me.

Now – these two complaints are just “hand-waves.” WE know what the test tested – maybe the characters don’t. And “lying” may just be the simplification for a complex set of skills. So these are not fatal flaws, just minor ones. HOWEVER…

3) Amy is the most miserable liar EVER, in all the history of girls sneaking out after curfew and lying about it. She’s nervous, awkward, obvious, uncreative and guilty. Exactly the opposite of the “perfect” liar.

So…kaboom. Fatal flaw. Watching Amy screw up the biggest lie of her life, as she rejects Lucy publicly (in a stupid, overcomplex and drawn out end scene) was excruciating. If I had been writing it, she’d have lied like a champ, then swung off in Lucy’s arms kissing her evil lover soundly in front of everyone. But that’s me. Instead they went for the tired and true “hurting Lucy’s feelings, but then repudiating the lie and going off with her”-type ending.

In any case, the girl got the girl. But the flaw really killed the end.

So, having said that, Lucy was as wondeful as Amy was awful. She made the movie watchable. And the silly love affair that crops up between Lucy’s henchdude and Amy’s co-D.E.B., was pointless and kinda cute.

I found the music video school uniforms very obnoxious, and the actresses were either hamming up everything, or just not very good at doing things like holding a gun steady, but as this was very clearly meant to be a completely over-the-top comedy parody, all those things are forgiven.

Ratings:

Story – 7
Characters (Good Guys) – 5
Characters (Bad Guys)- 7
Cinematography – 5
Yuri – 8

Overall – 7

D.E.B.S. would make a great comic book, or even novel, with the right writer. Stupid fun, no brain cells need apply. But just lovely for a rainy Sunday afternoon and a cuddle on the couch. It just BEGS for fanfic – I’m sure there’s plenty, and I don’t want to read any of it. ^_^





Live Action: Densha Otoko

February 17th, 2006

There is no Yuri in Densha Otoko. Let me just get that out of the way. However, it is so very worth of watching that I wanted to review it anyway.

For the three of you who have not run into in Densha Otoko, (Train Man in English), let me summarize the plot:

A dorky otaku sees a beautiful woman on a train. A druken man accosts said woman and the otaku has the balls to tell the old dude to stop. (In Japan, where it is common for people to ignore untoward things – heck in ANY city, really – this is a fairly significant thing). The woman sends the otaku a thank you note, and he asks a BBS channel for advice. With the help of all his “friends” on the chan, he ends up with the girl.

This story is supposed to be “based on” a real story. I found a really fun and bitter blog that thinks its a big ole fake. The channel, 2-chan, is familiar to most otaku, from America as well as Japan. The board does, indeed exist, and the messages as well…but the above blog thinks they were planted. But I think he missed the point. He’s convinced its a massive conspiracy – I’m convinced its a *well-written story.*

And that’s why I’m reviewing it. This, if it indeed is based upon a real story, probably has as much connection to it as the movie version of Last of the Mohicans did to the book. Which is to say, damned little. But as a drama? Oh my GOD was this an AMAZING story.

It is, at its heart, a love story. It’s a story about beauties and beasts and how sometimes the beauties are beasts inside and vice versa. It’s a story about how online communities and friendships are as important, as solid and as real as any other. And it’s a story about otaku life. From idol photo sessions, to bulletin boards, to figurines, maid cafes, seiyuu obsession, Comiket and everything, it’s about the life that I, and many other otaku have. And above all – it’s about being okay with who you are.

So much of anime is about average people in non-average situations. This story is about a horribly dysfunctionally non-average person in an average situation, which leaves him just about crippled. I mean, really, how many average guys would have a hard time calling a woman and asking her out?

On second thought don’t answer that.

Anwyay, for THIS man, it’s almost inconceivable, but he does it. And even after he “comes out” as an otaku – his words, “come out” – she accepts him.

In one of the many omake to this drama, two of his otaku friends, who are exceptionally horrible, (^_^;) enact his confession scene and end up kissing as a result. It was the most awful, funny train-wreck-but-I-can’t-stop-watching BL service scene I’d ever, ever seen. I loved it.

One other thing that has to be worth noting: the opening sequence is an homage to a very early Gainax animation sequence which is often referred to as “legendary”. The Wikipedia entry on Densha Otoko gives a nice summary of why, so I won’t bother plagiarizing. But the music cracks me up, I have to admit. We have both the Styx and ELO albums used in the series sitting on the shelf below my, yes, turntable.

To sum up – this series is BRILLIANT. If you are an otaku…not just a fan, but a rabid fan with more figurines, manga, DVDs, games, plushies, artbooks, etc than you know what to do with…watch this. Seriously.

Ratings:

Cinematography – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9 (especially the Hanshin Tigers fanatic. He was my fave.)
Yuri – 0
Service – 1, even though it is about the stereotypical otaku.

I don’t think I’ve cried as much, as happily, for anything else I’ve ever watched. Ever.