Gunjô: Ai ga shizunda umi no iro (2009) Poster

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2/10
If John Tesh were a movie he'd be this movie.
sitenoise8 December 2009
There is Pop and Alternative; there's Blockbuster and Art-house. A third wheel to those pairings might as well be New Age. That's what this film is: new age.

I liked the poster. I like Blue. And I liked the blurb I read somewhere: "a young woman ... is overwhelmed by despair and depression after her fiancé's sudden death. The film follows her touching emotional journey, revealing how her first love came to be and how she copes with the shocking loss." But yikes! This film is bad. It seems more like a shot at giving some J-idols and starlets a chance at big screen time with integrity but just because they don't have to act stupid doesn't mean they act well. Maybe they do act well but the film is so overwrought with phony angst that it's hard to tell. The music, and there is lots of it, is boring new age dreck, and I don't mean just the soundtrack. There are several full on scenes of someone tinkling on the piano for endless minutes of boredom. The direction is of the style that lulls you to sleep by trying to force a pace of real life. In real life hours go by and nothing happens but I don't want to see a movie of that. If I see someone get into their car and drive off down a really long rode at 5 miles per hour it means I can watch them for a very long time but I don't think it makes for whoop dee doo cinéma verité. This is the John Tesh of movies. Stay away.
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2/10
Fail.
ethSin5 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is among the worst Junai film I've ever watched.

It's clear this movie was based on a novel, they actually divided the movie by chapters. The impression I got from this movie was: The producers just stuffed as much as they can from a novel into a 2-hour film. The story lacked depth.

The gap between the "chapter 1" and "chapter 2" was just too big for us audience to follow. It was impossible for me to comprehend how the protagonist lost her mind because her fiancé died, because it didn't seem like they were in such a close relationship before his death. Character development was very poor, and the movie ended before I connected with any of the characters.

Another disappointment was Nagasawa Masami, who not only acted as bad as always, but lost her youthful charm as well. In fact, she looked really stubby in summer clothes.

I've seen my share of Japanese films, so I would imagine I can handle slow movies better than most viewers, but I was bored out of my mind while watching this film. The only thing I can compliment on is beautiful scenery of the Okinawan sea.
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