Nana is a live-action movie based on the manga of the same name by Yazawa Ai. It’s been a huge hit in Japan and I can understand why.

But let me be very honest and admit right off that I do not personally like the manga at all. It’s nothing specific – just not my cup of tea. That having been said, however, if I *were* a fan of the manga, I think I probably would have been really pleased with the movie. As it was, it wasn’t a bad movie, really.

For the three of you who are not familiar with Nana – the story is about two completely different girls named Nana: one a punky musician and the other a sweet girl, who meet on their way to Tokyo and end up sharing an apartment. Sweet Nana gets a pretty good case of admiration for punk Nana, who seems to have no troubles of her own. Of *course* that isn’t the case.

Nakashima Mika and Miyazaki Aoi, who play both Nanas, do a bang-up job. Aoi’s sweet Nana is huggably cute, and Mika’s edgy Nana reminded me strongly of a friend of mine, so I was instantly fond of her. As my friend does not read Okazu, I feel free to say this: there are some people who can smoke sexily. It happens alot in anime – think of Sainte-Juste from Oniisama e. But in real life, there are fewer people who make smoking look good. Betty Davis in Now, Voyager, carried it off pretty well and my friend Meryl looks kind of funny when she’s not holding a cigarette. When I hear her in my mind, her sentences are interrupted by inhalations of tobacco. And she makes it look pretty good. Nakashima Mika has got that same quality. It would seem odd for her to *not* be smoking.

I only read the first volume of the manga in Japanese, and random chapters much later when I picked up the odd issue of Lala – and I skimmed the first chapter in English when 500 copies of Shoujo Beat showed up at my house for Onna!, so I honestly don’t know how accurate the movie is compared with the manga, but from what I remembered it seemed pretty close. Since Nana the movie has been breaking all sorts of records in Japan, I can only assume that the fans thinks so too.

As movies go, especially as Japanese live-action movies go, it’s not bad. The acting is pretty tight, the story is easy to follow and the music isn’t bad at all. Towards the end it gets very slow, a quality that all Japanese live-action movies seem to have a problem with.

The big question for us has to be “so what about the kiss?”. The kiss Nana gives Nana was such a big deal, there was an interview with the actresses about it. It didn’t make them uncomfortable, they said. Well…not surprising because it can hardly be called “a kiss”. A peck, or perhaps, a “chuu”, but not a kiss.

Which brings me to something I’d been wanting to mention for a while – in manga, because the art is static, all time is slowed down, and emotional scenes – especially kisses – are also slowed down and seem more melodramatic than they might otherwise be. In this case the “kiss” is so fast that you blink and you miss it. In the manga, (I am assured by people who know better than me) the kiss is a real kiss. In the movie it’s practically non-existent. One more reason to like manga better. ^_^ (And incidentally, time is even slower for me when I read Japanese stories, like the Marimite novels. because it might take me a while to finish a complex sentence. The characters hang in limbo while I finish. If they are embracing while I’m working at it…the hug might go on for a looooong time. lol)

However, the affection the Nanas feel for one one another, and the akogare/admiration Hachi (punk Nana’s nickname for sweet Nana, which is a play on their names. “Nana” means “seven” and “Hachi” means “eight”) holds for Nana is very warm and fuzzy – and very natural. If you’re a fan of the manga, or you like chick movies in general, I’d recommend this to you.

Ratings:
Cinematography – 8
Characters – 8
Story – 7
Soundtrack – 7
Yuri – 1
Service – 1

Overall – a strong 7

Not a waste of time, unless you’re a hardcore zombie action movie fan.

Based loosely on Hagio Moto’s Boys’ Love classic, Touma no Shinzo (Heart of Thomas), Summer Vacation has just about something for everyone, except perhaps the hard-core action fan.

The story takes place at an all-boy’s private school during summer vacation. Almost everyone has gone for the summer, with the exception of three boys who are friends and are now living together. Not to long ago a fourth friend of theirs committed suicide, leaving behind a letter to his roommate. In this stereotypical “hothouse” setting several things are driving the boys apart. For one thing, there is more than a little sexual tension between them, as there was between their dead friend and at least one of them.

Into this tense mix comes a new boy, who looks unsettingly like their dead friend. He seems to know all about the likes and dislikes of the dead boy – and to share them – but insists that he knows nothing about him or his history.

Tempers flare, as does sexual attraction and violence, in this unusual and pretty creepy movie.

All the roles in this movie are played by girls. So you get kind of a double-whammy gender bendy thing going, as girls dressed like boys, start to find themselves attracted to each other. They really aren’t good as boys, but they really don’t look like girls either – which *really* works for this movie, let me tell you. The entire story balanced on the edge of life and death, vacation and school, community and isolation, madness and health, and sexual identity and gender. There’s at least one kiss I can remember, maybe more. Nothing explicit, which would have killed the whole story.

I highly recommend this movie for the zOMGWTFBBQ factor – because you really have no idea what’s going to happen through most of it. The end was a little weak, but I have to give it a little credit for not *at all* going where I expected.

Ratings:
Cinematography – 7
Story – 6 (Slow, but creepy and sexy enough to work)
Characters – 8
Yuri – 0 or 8, depending on how you look at it.

Overall – 7

A unique movie and one well worth watching for fans of this classic manga.

Last night 7 intrepid friends and staff of Yuricon went to the NYC premier of Saving Face, a “romantic comedy” about Chinese-Americans, lesbians, and mothers and daughters, written and directed by Alice Wu.

It was excellent.

For one thing – it was actually funny. That makes it the only romantic comedy I’ve ever watched that I laughed at.

The plot is simple: Wilhemina is a successful almost 30 years old Chinese-American surgeon in New York City. Her mother lives in hope that she will marry a nice Chinese boy one day. One day, Wil comes home to find her mother on her doorstep, pregnant at 48. As her mother moves in, Wil has to deal with a burgeoning relationship with a nice Chinese girl, Vivian, who is a professional dancer.

Wil desperately searches for a husband for her mother, while balancing Vivian’s increasing desire for their relationship to be publicly acknowledged.

It was very well acted. I genuinely think Joan Chen as Mom and Michelle Kusiec as Wil are way better looking in real life than on the screen, and Joan, particularly looked radiant on screen. (But Michelle was absolutely adorable at the party. I would have liked to had a chance to actually talk to her, but you know how it is – she’s moving around thanking everyone…) But Joan Chen in real life – wow. I want
to look that good when I grow up. Most of the cast was at the premier.

The writer/director, Alice Wu, was so cute! LOL She spent the night importuning people to tell their friends and get them to go to the first weekend openings, because this weekend’s box office takes will influence how heavily Sony markets the movie. So, here I am, telling all the folks in the NYC and LA areas to go see this movie! It’s funny, it’s well done, the girl gets the girl and…did I mention it’s
funny? :-)

Once again, May 27th, this Friday, opening places:

NEW YORK: the ANGELIKA (in Soho) and the AMC 25 (on 42nd Street)

LOS ANGELES: the SUNSET LAEMMLE 5, the WESTSIDE PAVILION, PLAYHOUSE (Pasadena), TOWN CENTER (Encino), and the SOUTH COAST VILLAGE (Costa Mesa)

And

SF BAY AREA: opens the weekend of JUNE 3 at the Landmark EMBARCADERO, the UA STONESTOWN Twin, the Landmark SHATTUCK (Berkeley), PALO ALTO SQUARE, CENTURY 5 (Pleasant Hill), SANTANA ROW (San Jose) and MARIN/ SAUSALITO.

For a glimpse of the trailer visit the Saving Face website.

Ratings:
Cinematography – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

A fun night out for any fan of lesbian stories.