Blog for Film Class

Initial Thoughts

I was so excited to watch this film, even though I’ve seen it thousands of times. It was one of my favorite films as a kid, and Miyazaki’s films are what lead me to become an animator. Animation is such an amazing medium and I’m glad we got to watch one of Miyazaki’s films for class. This film is beautifully animated, witch fluid motion and outstanding character designs. One thing I love about Spirited Away is just how well it brings you into this magical world. Miyazaki has a wonderful way of world building in his movies, and this one I think is one of his best.

Miyazaki has such a beautiful way of animating and storytelling that I adore. He focuses on showing life, and how beautiful it is. One thing I admire about his work is that he adds motion and life into everything we see. He focuses on the tiny details, some you may not even notice until the second or third watch. I watched an interview with him said that he specifically targets his movies for children because they will pick up on the littlest things. Most people may not notice that every hair on a little creature moves differently, but children will. These little subtle movements give life to his characters because it makes them feel real. In animation terms, this is one of the 12 principles of animation called secondary action. Secondary actions are used to support or exaggerate the main motion going on. Obviously, Miyazaki uses all the 12 principles of animation well, but this is one he uses a lot to give his characters an extra sense of realism.

My Interpretation

When thinking about this film, it was hard for me to think of a solid theme. A lot of this film focuses on the fantastical nature of world, and Chihiro’s struggles in it. However, after thinking about it I think this film the main themes to me seem to be compassion and greed(or more so to no become greedy). Throughout the film we see Chihiro exhibit traits of being compassionate and not being greedy. Throughout the film, she only ever takes what she needs and usually denies monetary things given to her(usually from No Face). Even at the beginning, she refuses food that her parents offer her. She instead exhibits compassion, and does her best to help those around her, and even going so far as to do everything she can so save Haku’s life. Even though she is a young child, she is very determined throughout the film to save her parents and help Haku. I watched an interview with Miyazaki where he said something along the lines of that he wants his characters to act according to their own will, not to what fate decides for them. I think this film really shows this because the film is driven by Chihiro’s will to save the people she cares about.

One thing I appreciate about this movie, and many of Miyazaki’s other films, is that it has a female protagonist who is seen as smart, cool, and strong. In this film, we do have Haku who helps Chihiro at the beginning, but as the story progresses she is the one who ultimately has to save his life and free him from where he’s trapped. It switches the narrative of the damsel in distress so that now the damsel is the hero. It’s really great for young girls to be able to see themselves in a movie being shown as the hero.

This was also my first time watching the film with the Japanese audio. I thought that the voices weren’t too different from the English, and it was interesting to compare the two. In the English, Haku’s voice is a little less soft I would say, but still has the same chill tone. Chihiro’s voice wasn’t too different but I will say her English voice is a bit more whiny than the Japanese at points. The most different was Yubaba’s voice. I think both English and Japanese voice actors did amazing at portraying her, but I did like the Japanese one a lot. She switches her voice more depending on who she was speaking too and it was always interesting to see what her voice would sound like next.

Initial Thoughts

This movie was such an interesting watch. I was expecting something silly but not this silly. I did enjoy this film, but it was very confusing at parts. The balance between being serious and comedic wasn’t done well. I really enjoyed the comedic parts and I felt that the serious parts didn’t fit as well with the tone. There are some movies that can balance this well, but I felt this one didn’t do it as well as others. Still, it was enjoyable. This film reminded me of Blazing Saddles, another comedy Western film. That film also has an overarching, serious plot, but that film felt more cohesive to me than this one. Some of the shots in this movie were gorgeous too. However, some felt way too saturated and hurt my eyes.

My Interpretation

This film has a comedic take on the classic one family versus another story. Watching this film, it reminded me a lot of the Hatfields and McCoys, which was a real event. They even mentioned War of the Roses, which was a historical event of feuding families. I thought this movie showed the absurdity of these family feuds well by making all the violence exaggerated. The comedic aspect pokes fun at this old story trope, even mentioning Shakespeare who was known to use this trope often in plays.

One thing I noticed when watching this film is the choice of costuming. Some characters are in classic western attire, and some are in modern clothes. Heihachi wears a hoodie which is definitely not period accurate. This didn’t take me out of the film though, but rather added to the absurdity of it. We are left unsure of the time period, which makes the comedic aspect even better. To add to it, they rarely used Japanese and the first time we ever hear any is from the American guy, which made the film even more silly.

Initial Thoughts

This movie was such a lovely change of pace for the horror movies of the past few weeks. I really enjoyed the calming, soft atmosphere this movie created and the emotions it evoked. The shot composition of this movie was gorgeous, highlighting the beautiful scenery of Japan. A complete contrast to the look and feel of Pulse. Having the two movies back to back, I noticed they have almost completely opposite messages. Both movies discuss how characters are lonely, but each one shows it differently which I find interesting.

My Interpretation

I thought that this movie had a really sweet message about living life despite prejudices that people may face. In this movie we see Tokue continue to enjoy her life, and the things around her despite the way she is treated by society. She if always taking in the scenery, enjoying the company of people around her, and giving advice to the younger people around her. It was nice to see a movie portray someone with a disability in such a positive light, and having the movie focus on how Tokue is mistreated for something she cannot control. People who suffer from leprosy have been outcasts in society for years even though it is not extremely contagious, and is very rarely spread to others. I was happy to see that this movie portrayed Tokue in such a positive light, and that we see the other main characters in the movie having sympathy for her.

Sentaro’s journey throughout the movie was one of the most moving parts of the whole film. We see him go from just doing his job because it’s his job, to enjoying making dorayaki as his passion. Meeting Tokue opens him up more, and she fills a role in his life that he was missing due to his mother’s passing. By hiring Tokue, she shows him just how meaningful and personal cooking food can be. Making the bean paste is more than just cooking for Tokue, and she teaches this to Sentaro. At the end, when we hear Tokue’s final message we learn that her motivation for working at the dorayaki shop was more than just because she likes dorayaki. She saw how sad Sentaro was feeling and wanted to help him get out of that sadness as she had been like him before. Her actions show just how selfless and kind of a person she really is.

I mentioned before that this movie has the opposite message from Pulse, and I think that Tokue’s final message is what solidified that feeling for me. In Pulse, people succumb to loneliness, and the movie emphasizes the lack of connections people make through the internet and daily life. However, Sweet Bean focuses on how connections to others can make such a huge difference in people’s lives. Just by getting to know Tokue, both Sentaro and Wakana’s lives are changed. Tokue helps both of them by being a positive figure in their lives. At the end we see that Sentaro is smiling and has a business of his own, and Wakana decided to go to high school even when she thought she wouldn’t. Both characters are brought out of their loneliness through their connections to people which I think rivals some of the messaging from Pulse.

Initial Thoughts

Once again I was not excited to watch this movie because I really dislike horror; however, this one didn’t effect me as much as Ringu did. There was a lot of tension and build up in this film and not a lot of pay off. In short, it was boring. The plot felt like it was all over the place and the message I assume the movie was trying to convey was very muddled. All of the potential scares weren’t as satisfying as Ringu. I kept hiding my face while watching because I thought there would be a big scare only for nothing to really happen. They had a lot of good set up, but I feel it just stayed at the same level of scary instead of slowly building and getting scarier as the movie goes on. I thought that the markings on the wall were interesting, as well as the red-taped doors. However, we get very little exposition on what is happening and so the movie is quite confusing. Many scenes felt random or out of place with no purpose. Characters were introduced then never seen again. I would have liked more explanation because the apocalyptic ending they went with was really jarring and honestly quite silly.

My Interpretation

I think part of the message this movie wanted to get at was something about how technology separates us and how we aren’t really connected to each other. Which, in my honest opinion, is a take I’m not fond of. I think it can be explored in an interesting was but this movie didn’t do that. It threw out the technology bit pretty quickly actually. I thought the end of the movie would result in a large climax incorporating the computers, but instead of being a focal point they were pushed more to the side close to the end. The red-taped doors became more of a focal point for the ghosts with the computers being a side source. It seemed like the whole message of the film was lost because they didn’t hold onto plot points that they started with.

One thing that could have been interesting was the computer program that was meant to simulate the world. In the program, whenever two dots get to close together they die. This is reflected throughout the movie as we only ever see people die when they are around others. However, I feel like this contradicts the movie’s message of being lonely in both life and death. We see people succumb to loneliness even when surrounded by others. This could be to show that the connections in this film re fake, and only surface level, but I feel that the movie didn’t achieve this message well. Throughout the film we see Michi care deeply about her friends and worry about them, even to the point that she hand feeds Junko and helps a complete stranger. I think this message of “we think we are connected when we actually aren’t” doesn’t come off the way the filmmakers intended it too. Instead, it makes it feel pointless that the people are overcome with loneliness even when they have friends. I was most disappointed with Kawashima’s death because it felt meaningless. It would have been more impactful if the ghost he saw was Harue, and he gave in to be with her ultimately. However, the movie seems to state that even the most headstrong people can succumb to this feeling of loneliness.

This film offers not remedy for this loneliness which I thin frustrated me most. The message I got from the film was that people are disconnected and lonely in this society it’s practically like we’re dead. This completely leaves out the real connections and bonds people make in daily lives to one another. While people do suffer from loneliness and depression and other things of that nature, I find it rude say that these people are practically just dead. People really struggle with these things, and to make and keep lasting connections, so to just brush it off and turn loneliness into an apologetic scenario felt almost insulting to me. Even though this movie calls it loneliness, it felt more adjacent to depression for me. So, it comes off to me as the movie trying to say that people suffering from depression can’t keep or make meaningful connections, and it is an issue that is spreading. I don’t know if that was the intended message, but that’s how it came off to me. As someone who knows people who suffer from depression, and have experienced it myself it was rather insulting to see how it was portrayed in this film. Depression can make you feel isolated, but that does not mean that you cannot make meaningful connections if you suffer from it.

Initial Thoughts

I have to say I wasn’t particularly excited to watch this film. Horror movies and I don’t mix well, and I usually can’t sleep after watching them. Such was the case for this movie. I found myself up at 5am holding my cat and staring at the TV in my room thinking about this film (the image above is basically how my night went). However, I did like this film even though it scared me. I enjoy mysteries, and movies with a lot of tension. Psycho is one of my favorite horror films because it has intriguing mystery and tension. I thought that Ringu did a really good job at building suspense throughout the film.

My Interpretation 

As far horror goes, it was fairly tame with its use of jump scares, but the disturbing imagery was the real kicker. The imagery of Sadako’s eye, the VHS tape, the distorted photos and the victims faces we’re all very strong. Those were the things that lingered in my mind after watching the film, and what kept me from sleeping. I think that the movie used a lot of imagery to heighten the fact that you have to see the VHS tape to get the curse to begin with. Also the fact that Sadako has to look at you to kill you. Having this strong imagery in the film just aids the overall plot of the movie.

I briefly want to compare two scenes from the American version and this one, because I don’t want to watch the full American one can lose sleep again. I watched the American opening scene and the ex-husband’s death scene. I thought it was interesting what each film decided to focus on. For the opening scene, the American one didn’t lead into the story of VHS tape as well, it felt more clunky to me than the Japanese version; however, it did manage to build more tension with the TV than the Japanese one. I thought that how the American actress started to panic built more tension, but the reward wasn’t as good as the freeze frame we got from the Japanese film. Next is the death scene, which both had amazing special effects. It was interesting what each version chose to focus on with Sadako. In the Japanese one, we focus on her missing fingernails and her slow movements, but in the American one we focus on her feet dripping with water and looking decayed, and she has quicker movements. I enjoyed the American version’s effects of having her keep a VHS/TV static look on her body even in the real world. In both scenes, the man being hunted stumbles around his room and falls over things, but the American one makes it much more action-y I would say with blood spilling and things crashing. The once huge difference between these scenes though is the face reveal. In the Japanese version we only see her eye but in the American version we see most of her face. I think both of these give off different emotions, but they both fit the relative scene they were in.

Initial Thoughts

This film was something I wasn’t expecting, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. There was a lot of emotional roller coasters in this film for sure. It went from being sad, to uplifting, to suspenseful, to comedic. Even though it had so much variety, it never felt like any of it was out of place. This movie felt very real, as people’s lives will have many moments with varying emotions and hardships. I felt like the struggles and how the characters acted was really well written and kept me engaged the whole time. This film felt like a look into the life of Yentowns. We got to see the journey of Ageha and the many people she meets as she lives her life. While I felt some parts we’re slightly exaggerated either for comedic or dramatic effect, nothing that happened in this film felt completely out of the realm of possibility.

My Interpretation

The overall message of this film seemed to be an appreciation of life. At the end, we see Ageha burn a lot of money that could be used to give her and her friends a better living situation, but instead she would rather them stay how they are. This is a very sentimental message that is basically saying you can find joy and happiness no matter your living situation, with or without money. While I think that is a very nice message, it’s rather idealistic. We see throughout the film how difficult of a living situation everyone in Yentown has, and how much they struggle. We also see that when they acquire money, the happiness of it doesn’t last, and they end up right back where they started. We also see that trying to get money is ultimately what leads to Fei Hong dying. The message I think the movie is trying to convey is that money is not everything and greed can lead to a person’s demise. While this can sometimes be the case, I believe it’s rather presumptuous for this movie.

There are some many people who struggle with poverty who would give anything to have a better living situation and stable income. Showing the message that money doesn’t lead to happiness is a good message in theory, but its such an idealistic view of the world. I think this movie showed the tragic circumstances of living in poverty well, but the message at the end that it is better for them to live that way and they are happier that way seems like a stretch to me. While I don’t think it’s impossible to live a happy life the way they do in Swallowtail Butterfly, I think it can send a false message that impoverished people are happy where they are ultimately. Perhaps I’m reading it wrong, but that’s how the ending came off to me - that the characters lives may not be perfect but at least they are happy and surrounded by people they love. Ultimately, that is a very sweet and sentimental message, which isn’t inherently a bad thing. I just wonder in the context of this film how realistic that sentiment is, because I think people in these circumstances would want to get out of that lifestyle eventually. But I could be wrong too.

Initial Thoughts

Immediately this movie got me excited with the starting music. I recognized Joe Hisaishi’s music instantly and it was nice to hear his music style in a film other than Ghibli ones. This movie was surprisingly solemn yet charming. All of the characters were really engaging and I enjoyed seeing their stories. The only thing I was confused about was when events were taking place. It took me a while to realize what was in the past and what was in the present. It was also a bit jarring to have the overdone violence contrasted with this peaceful slice of life, but it didn’t detract from the movie overall.

My Interpretation

This movie had a lot going on it yet with was pretty slow-paced which I enjoyed. It had a good balance of comedic, action, and somber moments. I thought that the story overall was very compelling and interesting to watch. Even though Nishi is violent and kills people, you still feel sympathetic for him as a protagonist. His story reminded me a lot of John Wick because most of this film is him just wanting to spend time with his wife peacefully and help out his friends. I drew a lot of parallels because both films have a stoic main character that just kicks butt the whole film because people keep bothering him. As the audience, we feel sympathy for Nishi because we know he doesn’t want to keep fighting people, but the yakuza keep bothering him which makes him have to act. We want to see Nishi just spend as much time with his wife before she dies, and seeing the scenes where they spend time together is really lovely. Their interactions were so sweet and genuine that when Nishi is confronted with violence you want him to succeed and leave unscathed so he can be with his wife again.

The story-line about Horibe was one that was very powerful to me. Showing his feelings and how he copes with them through his art was really strong to me as an artist. The scene where he stares at the flowers and it switches to show his art made me tear up. It’s hard to explain why it made me feel such strong emotions, but I think art just has that kind of power. Seeing his artistic abilities improve and seeing him experiment with new styles was also nice to see in the film. I learned that the paintings were actually done by Takeshi while he was recovering from an incident that left half of his face paralyzed. Knowing that, it gives even more meaning to that aspect of the film.

Initial Thoughts

Okay so I LOVED this movie! I’m a sucker for romance movies, and this movie gave me everything I wanted and more. Not only was the movie a cute romance, but it had an interesting commentary along with it. This movie got me pretty emotional too with the death of Jong-Il, who was one of my favorite characters, and when Sugihara tells Sakurai he is Korean. I’ll admit the beginning of the movie confused me a bit because I didn’t know the setting. The mention of North and South Korea threw me off, and him being in a North Korean school was something new to me. It took me a while(and for me to google it) to realize it was just a North Korean school that was in Japan. I didn’t know those were a thing so I learned something new today.

My Interpretation

The message of this film was pretty clear in my eyes, and it was to not discriminate against others. The major conflict of the film is Sugihara struggling with his identity, and finding where he belongs. Being Korean, but raised in Japan is troubling for him, and is shunned by both sides during the film. If he embraces Japanese, he is called a traitor by Koreans, but if Japanese people find out he’s Korean they call him scary. I liked that the movie didn’t shy away from this issue, and openly talked about this issues of discrimination in Japan. The way Sugihara spoke about his feelings felt real, and his rant at the end where he let his emotions out was really powerful to see. I think his speech, and the message of this film, is relatable to anyone who struggles with their identity. People struggle with all different parts of their identity, whether it be race, gender, sexuality, etc. When he says “I’m ME” and then continues to say “I’m a fucking question mark.” it hit me really hard, because it was relatable to me as someone who struggles with gender identity. There are many people who can feel alienated in society because they are different, and this movie beautifully shows how people are just people, that’s it.

What stood out to me most was Sugihara’s growth throughout the film, and how his relationships with others grew. Obviously, the main relationship is between him and Sakurai, and they have a very cute love story. I always enjoy the trope of a delinquent with a soft heart paired with a sweet but quirky girl. A lot of their romance was pretty standard in terms of how it played out, but all the beats hit just right and it was enjoyable to watch. I loved the cliche at the end of the Christmas Eve snow, it isn't a romance movie without it! Sugihara’s relationships with his friends and family were also quite interesting to watch as well. The dynamics between him and each new person were quickly established, like how him and his father clearly care for each other but still fight each other nonetheless. Or how his mother is always very talkative and gives him extra food because she knows best. Or how calm Sugihara is around Jong-Il, and how well they get along. I liked seeing Sugihara progress from just being a troublemaker, to being someone who starts to open up more. Sugihara has a very tough exterior, but around certain people you can see it start to crumble more and more. I also thought the fact that he didn’t go to get revenge on the person who killed Jong-Il was good character development. It really showed Sugihara’s core values in that moment.