An OK movie that could have easily been better.
Solanin is a 2010 Japanese movie that's a standard "young adults growing up while in a music band" tale. it wasn't terrible, but it could and should have been a lot better. It's brought down by two main problems. First, this movie is too long, and could have definitely used a second pass through the edit room because it tends to drag and become dull in several scenes. The second problem is the primary issue, and it almost kills the movie altogether, and I'll get to that problem in a moment.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
This movie basically revolves around two main characters; a wannabe musician and his live in girlfriend. The rest of the supporting cast is rounded out by their friends, band mates, and a few other characters. The entire supporting cast is fairly decent and they all do a capable enough job here. The lead actress, and primary star of the film, is very good in her role as the supportive and dependable girlfriend; she's an attractive and talented actress, and her character here is likable, cute, and charming throughout.
The lead actor's character however, is about as enjoyable as eating dirt, and this is what ruins this film. Here's a description of his character; he's a, boring, selfish, childish, lazy, inept, aimless, indecisive, insensitive, unreliable, mooch. He's also the lead singer, guitarist, & song writer for the band; unfortunately, he doesn't sing or play the guitar well at any point during the entire film, and he never sticks to the lyrics he wrote or music he composed either. Does that about sum him up for you?...if you think I'm exaggerating, watch the movie and tell me otherwise!
There is literally nothing to like about the lead character of this movie at all. If this character were a real life person, he would not have any friends, his band mates would have kicked him out of the band years ago when they realized how talentless he was, and he probably wouldn't have any girlfriends that would have stuck by him for any length of time.
Despite the total disdain the entire supporting cast of characters "should" have for the lead character, they all somehow think he's this good guy and they all seem somewhat dependent upon him for their happiness and sense of direction in life to varying degrees. These characters are all fairly directionless in life as well, but they all look like Steve Jobs compared to the lead character. I had so much contempt for this lead character that I was openly rooting for him to get hit by a bus or something halfway through the movie, so we could start focusing on the far more interesting and likable members of the cast (which is everyone else in the entire movie). Then, a miracle happens; the main character (SPOILERS) actually does get hit by a bus or car or something and dies. I guess he committed suicide, but you can't tell if that was really his intention because he can't ever make up his mind on whether he wants to commit to doing something or not.
At this point, the movie chooses to follow the cliché ridden method of having everyone come to terms with the loss of their friend by working towards playing his music on stage. It's blatantly obvious that this is the perfect impetus everyone needs in order to move forward with their lives; however, they could have all just easily mourned his death in their own individual ways, and then just moved on in life without all this nonsense. But, this is "band movie" after all, so, we can't have that can we?
All in all, there is decent enough amount of stuff to like in this movie to some extent, but I can't give it a definitively positive recommendation because of the unjustly deserved weight this movie places on the main actor's character; simply put; he's not nearly amiable enough for the viewer to truly connect with why the people he left behind felt he was so emotionally meaningful to their lives. This movie would have benefited greatly by making this character either MUCH less of a douche, or killing him off MUCH earlier in the film before the viewer got to the point of outright hating him and questioning why the rest of the cast of characters didn't hate him also.
6 out of 10 stars!
Solanin is a 2010 Japanese movie that's a standard "young adults growing up while in a music band" tale. it wasn't terrible, but it could and should have been a lot better. It's brought down by two main problems. First, this movie is too long, and could have definitely used a second pass through the edit room because it tends to drag and become dull in several scenes. The second problem is the primary issue, and it almost kills the movie altogether, and I'll get to that problem in a moment.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
This movie basically revolves around two main characters; a wannabe musician and his live in girlfriend. The rest of the supporting cast is rounded out by their friends, band mates, and a few other characters. The entire supporting cast is fairly decent and they all do a capable enough job here. The lead actress, and primary star of the film, is very good in her role as the supportive and dependable girlfriend; she's an attractive and talented actress, and her character here is likable, cute, and charming throughout.
The lead actor's character however, is about as enjoyable as eating dirt, and this is what ruins this film. Here's a description of his character; he's a, boring, selfish, childish, lazy, inept, aimless, indecisive, insensitive, unreliable, mooch. He's also the lead singer, guitarist, & song writer for the band; unfortunately, he doesn't sing or play the guitar well at any point during the entire film, and he never sticks to the lyrics he wrote or music he composed either. Does that about sum him up for you?...if you think I'm exaggerating, watch the movie and tell me otherwise!
There is literally nothing to like about the lead character of this movie at all. If this character were a real life person, he would not have any friends, his band mates would have kicked him out of the band years ago when they realized how talentless he was, and he probably wouldn't have any girlfriends that would have stuck by him for any length of time.
Despite the total disdain the entire supporting cast of characters "should" have for the lead character, they all somehow think he's this good guy and they all seem somewhat dependent upon him for their happiness and sense of direction in life to varying degrees. These characters are all fairly directionless in life as well, but they all look like Steve Jobs compared to the lead character. I had so much contempt for this lead character that I was openly rooting for him to get hit by a bus or something halfway through the movie, so we could start focusing on the far more interesting and likable members of the cast (which is everyone else in the entire movie). Then, a miracle happens; the main character (SPOILERS) actually does get hit by a bus or car or something and dies. I guess he committed suicide, but you can't tell if that was really his intention because he can't ever make up his mind on whether he wants to commit to doing something or not.
At this point, the movie chooses to follow the cliché ridden method of having everyone come to terms with the loss of their friend by working towards playing his music on stage. It's blatantly obvious that this is the perfect impetus everyone needs in order to move forward with their lives; however, they could have all just easily mourned his death in their own individual ways, and then just moved on in life without all this nonsense. But, this is "band movie" after all, so, we can't have that can we?
All in all, there is decent enough amount of stuff to like in this movie to some extent, but I can't give it a definitively positive recommendation because of the unjustly deserved weight this movie places on the main actor's character; simply put; he's not nearly amiable enough for the viewer to truly connect with why the people he left behind felt he was so emotionally meaningful to their lives. This movie would have benefited greatly by making this character either MUCH less of a douche, or killing him off MUCH earlier in the film before the viewer got to the point of outright hating him and questioning why the rest of the cast of characters didn't hate him also.
6 out of 10 stars!