Rippu Van Winkuru no hanayome (2016) Reviews

• Successfully capture the culture of emotion/identity suppression in Japan and the younger generation may reach the breaking point.

  alienialapine2016-08-06

  "It's so difficult to be naked!" cried Amuro, the mysterious *villain* like character in "Bride for Rip Van Winkle". Yes, in this world, we are always living under others' values. Those *others* love to attack you with their values without mercy. In Asian culture, this can be even worse. You may find less respects on people's life. Especially for the *elders*, who always have rights to criticize the *youngsters*. Traditional values always need to win, new values are always suppressed until it gets to the point to break through all the walls. However, lots of us prefer to be passive and live in our own shells. Not surprisingly, internet thus becomes so popular in Asia. Even in country like China where Internet censorship and surveillance has tightly implemented, a large population of netizens are easily spotted out there. It's just because people need a way out! They need their own space and supporters. And, they need to speak out for themselves. Although many lies exist in the viral reality, we probably still find truth and beauties there. And going beyond that, we find who we really are and whom we really need.

• Haru Kuroki is fabulous. Iwai should have found a couple actors to support her.

  sitenoise2016-09-20

  The first scene brought rain to the edges of my eyes. I'm a sucker for these depictions of Zenly enduring, kind and capable, ultra-feminine baby-talking pillars of strength Japanese women. Haru Kuroki nails it immediately and I know what I'm in for: *This Charming Girl* level character painting, only Japanese, which is better. Kuroki is humiliated from several angles and perseveres. Her world falls apart big and fast, culminating in a slow motion walk along the river pushing two suitcases accompanied by major melodramatic music to end the first act, at about the one hour mark. I hadn't noticed the soundtrack up to this point (which is a good thing, I think), but this scene is gigantic. It blew me away in its stylish gutsiness, I had to pause the film and catch my breath. I was fist pumping the air at how good this was going, already looking to place the film in the pantheon of great Japanese cinema. In retrospect, the film should have ended right there, crescendo'd to the heavens, leaving me frustrated in love, begging for more. My two highest rated Iwai films are Undo and April Story, at 47 and 67 minutes respectively. Just sayin'. So I come back to the flick and Kuroki's on a phone call, and then she starts walking again to big music. This time it feels obnoxious, Kurosawa-esque, and the film starts falling apart quickly. Bottom line: you know an actor is in trouble when he brings gimmick to every scene. Big complicated shoes, eating-acting, fashion mistakes above his pay grade, chewing gum. Gô Ayano is terrible here, looking for accents or spices to give his character some flavor, and becomes a constant distraction for the rest of the film. Cocco isn't an actress. She a majorly intense personality. A couple big name directors highlighted her strengths in films about her. Iwai calls upon her to act, and drives the film off into the weeds making Acts II and III about her. She's Rip Van Winkle. In Acts II and III, the slumber party style scenes go on way too long. The music is ridiculous in trying to add some whoopy-whoopy to nothingness. Go-go Man irritates in his attempt to be someone cool like Brad Pitt. Iwai does Iwai very well. He has a mature mark, but doesn't unpack his stories well. I don't even know what I'm watching any more. Too many people giving too many long winded speeches, trying to find a poignancy even if it's not going to be quiet. All things lead to an embarrassing scene with Cocco's mother, after a confusingly scripted denouement (what did she know and when did she know it) spoils any chance of redemption. Quiet poignancy made a few appearances but never took over.

• Unexpected and unpredictable, u can't predict the end before last 30 minutes

  monyetndut2017-05-28

  I'm not put any interest while watching this, but after 30 minutes everything changes. The duration is longer than I thought, but it's worth watching. Great Cinematography. Sooooo natural. Spoiler alert! The devil win, i don't know this spoiler or not, because u'll never understand if u are not watching this movie first. Watch this because of ayano san, his acting in this movie is super natural. I wanna kill his character but at the same time love him to. He is devil with porcelain face, work perfectly without notice. And his victim has been tricked all the time, and she never knows even at the end. I thought amuro san(ayano san) flirt nanami and being lover, never happen tho. But thats better because if they're together the movie just tastes romance, and that's not good. Need part 2 and see the next target of amuro san. Money is the key and amuro will do everything for every job that you give, that what i get from this movie. I cried at the end and still can't decided amuro san is pure evel or so

• Unexplained character motives

  skyboiyaj2017-01-12

  The visuals, cinematography, and acting were great. However, story was lackluster. The movie dares to have 4 stories drag in a 3 hour movie. The main female protagonist starts off down on her luck with risk of unemployment. However she meets a man online, gets married, then (without spoiling the story) we never see him again in the film. The truth is never revealed why it concluded that way. This trend continues with the actress meeting people but we never find out who they really are and what their motives are. We spend 3 hours in a movie but we do not even know the characters or get character development. That's right, the main protagonist doesn't learn anything through her journey. The music choice was beautiful, however it felt like a cop out since they used popular pre- composed music.

• Paranoia ...

  sohrab_mar2019-02-13

  I cant recommend this movie . The movie goes on in an untrusrable environment and you do not know if any one is acting real ... Real life is never like this and you can manage to recognize true from void... This movie seemingly is mixed with paranoia and phsyosis or similar terms ...