Reviews

A pleasant Filipino comedy with a slightly less realistic story at the end made me happy, mainly because of the fine exaggeration and above all the very good acting performances of Ron (Albert Martinez) and Nick (Erik Quizon, one of the two directors of this film), which mainly make the film funny .

I do not recommend this older pinoy feel good movie to those who are eternally pessimistic, bitter and look for only faults and deep stories in every picture ...
A pleasant Filipino comedy with a slightly less realistic story at the end made me happy, mainly because of the fine exaggeration and above all the very good acting performances of Ron (Albert Martinez) and Nick (Erik Quizon, one of the two directors of this film), which mainly make the film funny .

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I have somewhat mixed reactions to this film. On the one hand, beautiful actors, naked bodies as it usually is in the Philippines (warm, hot, stuffy almost all year round, unless there is a monsoon or typhoon), the story is almost like from a red library (or a pink film library?). The music was also beautiful in the second part (as if I had already heard some passages). It was all good, including the fact that in the end Raffy also achieved his desire to get an education (you know, except for the Czech Republic and a few other countries, education has to be paid hard everywhere else).

But I was bothered by the illogicality of some small details of the story, which in the end didn't even have to be there, the naivety that I expect in Asian (Pinoy movies) was a bit too much for my taste here (adult Marco drowning again and Raffy saving him again), some strangeness in Marco's behavior.

But overall, a nice fairy tale with male beauty and an awareness of how simple people live in this island kingdom and a good feeling that on gaytitulky.info we can have more complex and comprehensive information about some films than on IMDb itself.

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I had to go back and watch some scenes in the movie again because of the bad picture quality and English. subtitles and if I think about the "badness" then a fairly decent plot unfolds with well-known pinoy actors (Coco, Sid), with a small component of gay content and an ending that I did not expect...
I had to go back and watch some scenes in the movie again because of the bad picture quality and English. subtitles and if I think about the "badness" then a fairly decent plot unfolds with well-known pinoy actors (Coco, Sid), with a small component of gay content and an ending that I did not expect...

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This Pinoy film is a bit different from the usual scheme of gay films

This Pinoy film is a bit different from the usual scheme of gay films from this East Asian archipelago. No poverty this time.

And I can have a rather sugary Filipino pink gay book once in a while. I can look at a picture with a very simple story through Asian eyes and not be a critical European. But the end of the film is certain.

For the incidentally very decent processing (camera, editing), I deducted three out of ten points for the "shower" scenes, when the men were constantly showering in their briefs, while the Philippines is completely natural when it comes to eroticism and sex, a bit rougher erotic scenes and "fish" the kissing scene between Manny and Levi (fishy means when a straight actor is not capable of "normal" kissing with another man and just puckers his lips forward like a carp on dry land).

Overall, I'm happy with the pinoy fairy tale...

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Everything you could want from a movie. Old Boy is EVERYTHING you could want from a movie!

Park Chan Wook is a mastermind - First Joint Security Area and then The Vengeance Trilogy! It says something about film journalists that nobody wrote about Park Chan Wook before Oldboy won the grand jury prize at Cannes 2004. Oldboy is the second part (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was the first) in a planned revenge trilogy. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is the third and final instalment.

Dae-su wakes up in an empty room. The door is locked, no windows. His only company is the television. He gets food through a hatch. He works out, writes in his diary. Via the television, he learns that he is wanted for the murder of his wife. His daughter has been adopted by a Swedish couple (a fun small detail because a Swedish soldier also figures in Joint Security Area.) He has been stripped of everything that matters and worst of all, he doesn't know what he did to deserve it! He is fixed, every day is the same. Claustrophobia turns to despair. He tries to commit suicide but fails. After 15 years he is released. Who locked him up?! Why was he locked up!? Why was he released?!

The film is based on a Japanese manga.

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"A flower once bloomed will hold to the vine, while a bud will fall."

Kurosawa Akira worked on this script but didn't live to film the story. The Sea Is Watching seemed far from his usual comfort zone as it was woman centric and heavy on romance. You'd have to go back to just after WWII to see him tread so heavily into romantic territory. Director Kumai Kei picked up his mantel and made the film, but it felt far from the Kurosawa films most of us are familiar with.

The film centers around a brothel and a young prostitute named Oshin. She has a big heart and a bad habit of giving it away to the wrong men. Kikuno is an older prostitute with an older suitor who wants her to come live with him. Stopping her is a violent yakuza lover who thinks he owns her and uses her earnings to pay off bad debts. The young women stick together and support one another through their ups and downs. After a bad romance, Oshin falls hard for a destitute man who is ready to end his life. He will play a key role when a torrential storm churns up the sea and the nearby river sending flood waters toward the town.

The cinematography and sets were beautiful and the colorful kimonos stunning. The acting seemed overwrought at times as the younger thespians weren't as polished as the more experienced actors. Shimizu Misa grounded the young oiran with a more reserved performance.

This film played like a melodramatic slice of life on the wrong side of the bridge as the women dealt with the caste system, love, heartache and dangerous clients. The middle bogged down making an already long film feel longer. However, the ending gave the film the emotional weight it desperately needed when one person showed the true samurai spirit in a moment of love and sacrifice with the pure-heart of a warrior.

9/9/23

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"Can't I find my own happiness?"

Ozu once again examined how a traditional family was forced to confront modern thinking in relation to love and marriage. He did so in a humorous manner without wandering into the dark side as he was capable of doing. In Equinox Flower a father with two independent minded daughters found himself suffering in a sea of his own inconsistencies from which only the women in his life could save him.

The film opens at the train station with a storm warning. If only the men in this film knew the storm of independent thought that was going to upend their lives. Hirayama Wataru gives an emotional toast at a young couple's wedding. He praises them for marrying for love because his marriage had been a pragmatic arranged marriage. Later that week an old friend visits him and asks him to check on his daughter, Fumiko, who has left home. She didn't want an arranged marriage estranging their relationship. Wataru found her working at a bar and in love with a musician, but happy and healthy. No problem there. One of his daughter's friends, Yukiko, asks for advice dealing with her mother who is always trying to matchmake for her. He tells her not to be in a hurry to marry. "You may think marriage is golden, but it can end up being brass." When she dreams of a love match-no problem. When a young man name Taniguchi comes to his office asking permission to marry his oldest daughter, Setsuko---big problem. He was not consulted and didn't even know they were dating. Without realizing it he begins to set into motion the kind of estrangement his friend had with his daughter. The women around him begin to mobilize in their own subtle and not so subtle ways to help him change his mind and give his blessing to the young couple.

Setsuko and Yukiko pinky swore to help deal with their domineering parents and Yukiko laid the perfect trap for Wataru. Wataru's youngest daughter, Hisako, pushed for Setsuko to have a love match knowing it would be her turn next. Kiyoko, gently nudged her husband to do the right thing, always believing that he eventually would. With four women against him he never stood a chance no matter how controlling and cantankerous he could be.

I had to remind myself numerous times that this was 1958 when Wataru dropped his clothes on the floor for Kiyoko to deal with, told her to turn the radio off like you would a child, and went drinking or on reunion trips with his buddies. He also grounded Setsuko and told her to quit her job because he was angry with her. Ozu's wives always seem terribly confined to the house with no social life whatsoever except caring for their husbands. Wataru worked late and spent time afterwards with male friends. Kiyoko stayed in the house with only a maid for company. When Kiyoko yearned for the days during the war when the family huddled together in the bomb shelters because they were actually all together, it was sad indictment on her life.

Ozu put color to good use in his first film to use it. While much of the settings were beige and gray, most of the men dressed in gray suits as well, he displayed bright pops of color in red, green, and blue. The women, with the exception of Kiyoko, often wore bright colored kimonos. His teapot (red) had a couple of closeups and trains also figured into the story as they usually did. I have never grown tired of his meditative compositions and framing of shots. The colors he chose were as soothing as they were in black and white. The only drawback to his style, for me, was as ever, the face nearly straight onto the camera framing which was jarring during dialogues because the characters were looking at me and not the character they were conversing with, bouncing back and forth like a ping pong.

Papa Hirayama came across like a 1950's man, one who was used to getting his way in everything at home. What was different was that the women in his life called him on it. Yukiko complained in the same way about her overbearing single mother and Fumiko refused to go home because her father wanted everything his way. The old tradition of a parent determining who their child would marry was giving way to the young people wanting to marry for love. And while Wataru could appreciate that for everyone else's daughter, he had trouble letting go of control of his own. Fortunately for him, the women in his life banded together to show him his own hypocrisy. He also learned when a woman said "it's fine" that he should not assume he had won the argument. Wataru was right though, it takes a lot of work to turn brass into gold in a relationship.

9/9/23

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Film at its best!

Women can be absolutely amazing sometimes. In Ang Lee's classic and glorious martial arts film, they are the ones responsible for all the action, all the rescues and villain roles. The men are mostly allowed to be contemplative and stand silently by. It simply couldn't be better.

The story itself has several spices of old myths and legends, but is also a very current and moving love story where looks mean more than a lot of empty words. Actually, you probably shouldn't reveal too much of the plot, the film works best to be experienced without as little prior knowledge as possible, but when Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon kicks off, a disguised youth steals an important sword, called the Green Fate. But everything doesn't go quite as it should, an old villain named the jade fox - Totally crazy cool! - Forge evil plans and the real heroes, the master Li Mu-bai (Chow Yun-Fat) and his friend Yu Shu-lien (Michelle Yeoh) soon find themselves in both conspiracies and wild chases through the trees.

Now that martial arts movies have had a real boost in the western world in recent years, the pictures have become increasingly colorful, Hero or House of Flying Daggers to name just a few, but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon shows that the story itself is at least as important. The film was also something of a breakthrough for Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, who plays Princess Jen here, and who managed to combine both strength, arrogance and shyness with a single tear.

To mention some of the best first, the fight scenes are absolutely huge. When Zhang Ziyi and Chow Yun-Fat jump between both treetops and water, it is visual and fighting aesthetics at the highest level. But the coolest thing of all is when Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh lock themselves in a cramped room and try to destroy each other with all kinds of weapons. Incomparable and gorgeous!

At the same time, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a great movie because there is so much else to gripe about. Especially the love story between Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh's characters. They treat each other with the greatest tenderness, but through their looks you can read love of the deepest nature. Well acted and above all, well captured through Ang Lee's sensitive camera and his use of silence.

On the whole, it's really hard to find anything to complain about in Ang Lee's rich film. Sure, it may be a bit slow at times, but on the other hand, it highlights even more the exquisitely choreographed fight scenes and gives weight to a film that otherwise continues to run when most of the reels have already stopped.

In short, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is cinema at its best. Exciting, surprising, lustful and tragic. Seeing it is like going through a whole palette of emotions and that is exactly what makes the artist Ang Lee create a tableau out of the ordinary.

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A tale of Love and Despair

Step into the shadows of this poignant film, where you'll meet a ruthless mother, a well-intentioned but flawed father, a vulnerable girl navigating a world of heartache, and a kind but impoverished disabled man.

In the realm of Taiwanese cinema, it's a familiar landscape—a tale painted with shades of darkness yet harboring a glimmer of hope. Your interpretation may vary, but for those who venture into this cinematic journey, I recommend a quiet night or a rainy afternoon. Let the unhurried pace of your surroundings mirror the deliberate cadence of the film.

At the end of the movie, it has a simple yet deep meaning of questioning what’s the meaning of life. The narrator’s words sums it up as 3 reasons of life: dependency, anticipation and for tomorrow…

Be forewarned it contains some sexual content explicitly to showcase the deepening of both leads and how their lives intertwine with each other. Hence, it’s best to be watched with anyone with maturity of age.

I would not recommend this movie to be repeatedly watched again as once you’ve seen the plot, it’s not something you can easily forget as the message is clear and punches into the heart.

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Hilarious!

That was hilarious! It totally feels like a folk story, a legend of those whispered around the village fire when the children have gone to sleep. It could also be a daydream of a Korean living in a foreign country who has been taunted by locals for his... ehm... size.
The costumes, the behaviour, everything... don't expect historical accuracy. People, it's fantasy, let's not forget that. So don't wonder why skirts are short and why a Joseon-time girl dances classical ballet half-naked near a village pond, or why the village men perform an Esther Williams number in the said pond. Yes, it's over-the-top, but that was its whole point! And yet it still manages to celebrate empathy and solidarity and even romantic love.
Thoroughly recommended if you want to chase away any stress or sadness. But not to people who take satire seriously, who get offended easily and who are champions of political correctness.

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Loyalty or love - a complex love triangle

HUGE SPOILERS!!!!!

I didn’t expect to love this movie so much, but I did. This tells the complicated love triangle between the 3 main leads - Hong Rim (Chief of King’s guard), Gong Min (king) and No Guk (queen). Set during Goryeo dynasty, Hong Rim and Gong Min are lovers, Gong Min trusts Hong Rim the most, and Hong Rim is very loyal towards Gong Min, would do anything for him. But Gong Min, who has no interest in No Guk, is pressured to make her pregnant, so that she will give birth to future heir. But he refuses to sleep with her and orders his lover to sleep with her instead, to make her pregnant. Hong Rim doesn’t want to, but he has no other choice but to obey… neither him or No Guk are happy about it, and it starts out as awkward and confusion when they sleep with each other first time, but eventually comes to enjoy it and their intercouse becomes full of lust and passion. And Hong Rim gets confused by his own growing feelings for the queen while also wanting to stay loyal to the king. It becomes dangerous as Hong Rim and No Guk starts playing with the fire, that could destroy everything…

The acting is amazing by all 3 leads - So In Sung, Jo Jin Mo and Song Ji Hyo! They gave it all and the acting comes off as very natural. The setting, clothes is very beautiful and overall Goryeo is a very interesting dynasty. A high quality movie even tho it’s from 2008…but this movie can be very disturbing , it had Gore and many erotic scenes - so, very sensitive viewers should not watch this. The sex scenes are very intense and realistisic, I started to think that the actors actually Did ’it’ for real. Such a progressive, extremly daring movie as not only violent and erotic - but also because it has homosexuality , in a movie set during Goryeo dynasty!! I don’t want to spoil too much but I have No idea Why so many feels sorry for Gong Min?? Like, seriously!

I was surprisingly moved by the forbidden love story between Hong Rim and No Guk, I truly believe they fell deeply in love with each other, they risked so much just to be together, Chemistry between Jo In Sung and Song Ji Hyo was on fire , it could melt my screen! And I was rooting for the impossible romence. I don’t think Hong Rim was ever in love with Gong Min… he loved him yes, but not romantically.

I love that We have k-dramas that usually are pretty tame/innocent but that k-movies can be anything but tame/innocent lol! If i want to watch something innocent I watch k-dramas , but if i’m in mood for something very spicy, I’ll go for k-movies!

Anyways, this movie is very intense, sometimes I had to hold my breath! It was interesting that when Hong Rim fell for No Guk, his lust/passion/love for her took his mind and thus his huge loyalty for Gong Min started to decline… which of course makes Gong Min in full rage mood!

This movie is almost perfection, nothing really I want to change. I’m proud of the 3 actors who took such daring roles! Kudos to them! I recommend this movie for adults who are not too sensitive, it’s truly a great movie. But don’t watch with your parents!! I truly fell for Hong Rim , who’s Been groomed by Gong Min since childhood , how he Been taught all his life to always obey and be loyal to Gong Min, taught to sacrifice his life for him - taught to always put him first and for Gong Min to be Hong Rim’s whole world. The only one he should ever care about..so when he falls in love with No Guk, it shakens up his life, and him who never before been with a Woman…

Truly a great movie, but no way i feel sorry for the king! It’s all his fault in the first place as he was the one who ordered them to sleep with each other , he should have known that there is possibility for them to develop feelings for each other. This movie … for sure it won’t be the last time I watched it ! :)

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Movie revisiting TxT 2022 US Tour: wish it went deeper but still felt a lot of emotions watching it

This documentary movie follows the summer 2022 US Tour of Tomorrow x Together which culminated with their first participation to the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago.

As I enjoy TxT's music and appreciate the 5 members also in their individualities, it is difficult to give an objective opinion on this movie... The angle of approach of the documentary seems to be that after debuting in March 2019 and not being able to do tours/live concerts with real people during the pandemic years, the group can finally meet again its fans in the real world. It is an intelligent starting point but at the same time, I must say that overall the message the director was going for seems kind of vague.

The film consists in a mix of several elements: some interviews with the members to get their feelings and input on what happened during the tour, some behind-the-scenes moments regarding the organisation, preparation and repetitions for the concerts in addition to some storytelling about the tour focusing on specific situations happening to the members. Therefore, the direction of the movie feels not clear. They try to go into too many things but at the same times it stays in a way too superficial because of the lack of time to deepen the topics.

If you are a casual fan of the group or even considered yourself as a MOA, I'm not sure it will give you really a lot of new insights on TxT. But you will still of course for sure enjoy the movie. If you are a newcomer or know very little about TxT, I'm not sure you will really understand all the ins and outs regarding the group...There are very little contextualization done in the documentary regarding the launch of the group, their music, each of the members and you might not totally get the importance of some of the events.

Despite its shortcomings, I really think it was a quite interesting watch that will bring you for sure some feelings. It is enjoyable but also really painful on some aspects as the boys face many difficulties to go through the tour. It has clearly a physical and emotional impact on them but at the same time, they share also pure moments of joy and are rewarded of their tremendous efforts.

I would recommend this to people that love TxT. It is a nice complementary watch to revisit the 2022 US Tour in another way. Even though I wish it would have been deeper on some aspects, I'm still grateful in a way about the fact that they shared both the joyful times but also the more painful moments. It was done in a controlled way but at least it does not totally brush off the difficulties faced. It is beautiful in a way to know that just one year later, in summer 2023, the group successfully headlined the Lollapalooza festival.

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Solidly good

So, to be 100% honest, my horny behind came for the NC17 rating and the hope for hot NC scenes and stayed for what turned out to be a solidly good film! I love being surprised. The story, to me, isn't that deep. We've seen the dead mother/warped intimacy storyline a thousand times so there was nothing special. What was wonderful was how well the film was directed and how beautiful and purposeful each sex scene was written. I felt Ryo grew a lot with each encounter. As he got to know women's bodies and their minds, he got to know more about himself and how to Feel. That ultimately brings us to the lightly existential pseudo-incestious encounter towards the end which was beautiful, uncomfortable, and powerfully erotic all at once.

To me, however, one of the best and saddest scenes was with the friend from the bar. No spoilers here but their encounter truly broke my heart. I will have to go back and watch their scenes again because I missed some things. I do wish there could have been a little more depth in that relationship which would have made their storyline even more powerful and enriched the film.

Overall, solidly good film. Lots of erotic scenes so if that's not your thing you probably want to skip this one. Very good directing, acting, and overall production.

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Epic Chinese mythology movie not to be missed

[PARDON ME, THIS IS LONG]

I'm giving this 10 stars, not because I'm Chinese (and naturally biased as many would probably think). I have never read the Investiture of the Gods (the novel on which the Trilogy is largely based), nor properly watched any relevant TV/movie production. (To those who are familiar with the original story, the Trilogy focuses on Jifa rather than Jiang Ziya who is traditionally depicted as the protagonist.)

I am giving this 10 stars, because I am truly in awe of the high quality of the movie consistently demonstrated in all aspects, a master-piece conjured with the blood, sweat and tears of a team of 8000+ crew: the mind blowing cinematographic effects, the exceptionally amazing actors (whether it be men or women, new or seasoned), the extremely elaborate costumes, the lavish grand palace and buildings crafted by 2000+ carpenters, the beautiful original scores and songs, the simply superb and talented Director Wuershan who has dedicated whole heartedly more than 9 years to the Trilogy while constantly striking nothing but perfection throughout... The list goes on.

I am very impressed by the new actors and actresses who survived 6-8 months in a very intensive training camp. Their daily routine usually ran from 5am to 9pm, 6 days a week, where they were required to undergo various types of training including riding, archery, combat, music, history, physical training, swimming and performing, all of which helped transform them into what warriors should look like 3000 years ago - not just the muscles, but also the SPIRIT! And yes, their acting skills may be debatable, but they are by no means awkward. They are meant to play roles that are in the teens/early twenties, which are exactly where they were when the movie started shooting more than 5 years ago. Practically all of them were new to equestrian, one of the many subjects they had to master in the training camp. By the time they graduated, they all became excellent riders that were able to perform amazing acts in concert. That's why the horseback riding shots are so breathtaking - no stunts at all. About this, I would in particular raise my glasses to Yu Shi (Yosh), the actor that plays Jifa. He has a reputation for constantly pushing himself to the limit, back then and throughout those years while waiting for the movie to be released (which was overdue for 3 years). There is a jaw-dropping scene where he turned around and shot arrows from the horseback without reins, something apparently so dangerous that no one else (the equestrian director included) in the set was able to complete. He insisted on performing the whole series of actions himself and after endless practice, day and night, he pulled it off with flying colors. I am sure this is only one of the many spectacular moments that he will be remembered for, down the line.

As for the King, I personally adore Kris Phillips' (AKA Fei Xiang) portrayal and I beg to differ from those who took the view that his acting was terrible. Anyone who goes to the movie with a peaceful heart cannot possibly have come up with that blatant conclusion. His dramatic expressions and awesome physique imparted life to the King who is known in history and novels as someone smart, strong, tall but most of the time, brutal... Many Chinese are of the view that no one else in modern days is better fitted to play the King.

Jichang, played by Li Xuejian, is another role that truly touches my heart. He is a veteran Chinese actor who has won probably all the awards in China that can be garnered. Some may laugh at the way he speaks in the movie, but please try to understand that he has been fighting nasopharyngeal cancer for more than 2 decades, which has seriously affected how he articulates and his hearing too. Why did they insist on using his own voice? It is because only that way, an actor could fully unleash to the audience what the role should really be like. Mr. Li's performance is powerful and flawless in every scene.

Surely, there are areas that require improvements. The special effects - yes, they could have been better but considering the lack of funding and the fact that the Director had to pay out of his pocket to keep it going, I am only hoping the first Installment of the Trilogy could score better in worldwide box office so that more funds can be injected to improve that area which is very important to the 2nd and the 3rd installments. The plot - yes, some wonderfully shot scenes did not appear in the movie, which arguably could help audience understand better, but the Director had to make a judgement call in order not to compromise the integrity of the story line, and having a movie longer than 2.5 hours means more difficulty in getting it released in Chinese theatres, apparently...

Truth be told. I've seen the Creation of the Gods 4 times, all in iMax theatres. Each time, I was able to find details that I previously missed. Each time, I was able to feel more. Last time that I did such a thing was for Titanic, and I only watched it 3 times...

So if you have a big heart and are happy to embrace all cultures, may I urge you to give this movie a chance, and please do so in an iMax theatre if you can!

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