Movie Review: Kita Kita

Kita Kita is a light, cheesy romantic flick, but not the usual one. Girl gets temporary blindness, meets Boy, who is not exactly physically attractive. What will happen if Girl regains her sight? It’s very novel premise, and perhaps, the only thing that keeps the plot together, like a dish that has one main ingredient, the rest being a dash or two of this or that spice. This simplicity comes as a virtue, especially for a film whose main goal is magpakilig. For the first half where Girl goes blind, the movie wanders into Kdrama territory, indulging its audience with the beauty of Sapporo using perfectly sanitized shots. Then – not-so-spoiler alert – Girl regains her sight and some twist of sort happens. The masterplan of an intricately planned plot is revealed. You either enjoy the cleverly written story – which is what most people experienced, or, if you are like me, you are jolted out of the lives of the characters you have come to love, into the ugly feeling of being aware that you are in a cinema. The suspension of disbelief came crashing, though not into complete disappointment. It’s not a bad movie, not an exceptional one either. But it’s cute and I had a few good laughs. Still recommended. Rating: 6 of 10.

(Photo above is a screenshot from the trailer.)

Movie Review: In This Corner of the World

Wars are a very common theme in anime, but this movie treats this trite subject differently. It focuses on the coming of age of a teenage girl who moves in with her teenage husband after an arranged marriage. Together with her husband's family, they go through and survive the hardships of the war. The cell animation, a rarity in modern anime, is visually stunning, kind of Hayao Miyazaki-esque but still very different. Despite being set during World War II Japan, the movie is still mostly dreamy, warm and funny. It didn’t hurt that the director threw in some abstract painting-ish scenes as icing on an otherwise already perfect cake, reflective of the main character who is a talented artist. After Kimi no Na Wa, I didn't know when I’ll be blown away by an anime next, or by a movie, for that matter. But this one did. Rating: 10/10.

(Image above is a screenshot from the official trailer.)

Movie Review: Kimi No Na Wa

I am huge Makoto Shinkai fan, so this review is bound to become completely unobjective. But consider this – I also run the risk of experiencing disappointment, if the story flops, or boredom, if this movie turns out to be just a derivative of his previous works. So how was the movie? Simply put, there are no words. The animation, the story – both are perfect in every way. Given Shinkai’s immensely popular anime films, I wondered if he still had something else in his sleeve, and he did. This movie, while bearing his signature romantic theme and gorgeous animation – no doubt a Shinkai creation at every frame - is still completely different. Rating: 10/10.

(Image above is a screenshot from the official trailer.)