movie reviews

I have a headache. =_=;; Studying in the library sucks...but hey, I guess somebody's gotta do it. >.< Or rather, I guess I have to do it. XD Nothing much has happened today, except that I really ought to take Japanese VI P/D/F (no way I'm getting an A in that class...ever) and in 9.09, Chip (the professor) made the analogy of action potentials and toilets. ^___^ I can already tell that 9.09 is going to be a lot of fun.

And now...while I punt and wait until I have go to the airport, have two mini movie reviews. ^_^

The first of which I saw as part of my gay class, and the second of which I saw at the MIT-Japan retreat this weekend. ^_^ Guess which one I liked better!

"The Broken Hearts Club" (2000) by Greg Berlanti feels like almost every gay stereotype thrown into a movie and blended for good (or bad) measure. We've got the Studly Gay, the Ugly Gay, the Insecure Gay, the Newbie Gay, the Punk Gay, the Old Gay, the Black Gay, and the Main Character Gay. Did I miss one? Well, they're missing Girly Gay, but I suppose that can be divided equally amongst them.

The problem with "The Broken Hearts Club" is it's subtitled a romatic comedy, and it's neither particularly comedic, nor particularly romantic. There's so many characters you're not sure whose relationship problems you're dealing with, and whether or not these are actually people you're dealing with. You barely get a glimpse in on their lives, aside from the fact that they all seem to be decently well-off, like to hang out at a posh gay restaurant, and have vague hobbies tacked to them so you can distinguish them from someone else in the group.

The problem with the movie is that all the characters are just gay. That's ALL they are. Their personalities are defined by the word "GAY" and all the societal tag-alongs that go along with it, and very few of those characters can be viewed as "real people." While it tries to deal with real-life gay issues, all it ends up doing is touching upon them before fleeing to more happy things, like more group get togethers at the restaurant.

God, at least give me a sex scene to entertain me. Nope. Just implied sex. You know, the off-screen inoffensive crap. >_< This movie sucked the balls of the concept of "mainstream gay," with none of the realism. Boo.

Hush! (2001) by Hashiguchi Ryosuke was a good movie. I wouldn't define it as "gay cinema" in the traditional American way that we define "gay cinema." Well, that's obvious, because it's Japanese. I'm not familiar with gay cinema in Japan (not yet, and not ever in this class, as it seems from the syllabus) but it does raise the stereotypical issue that many homosexuals face in modern Japanese society: the family.

Hush! redefines the view of the traditional Japanese family. Asako, a non-typical, boyish and independent single Japanese woman, is tired of one-night stands and meaningless sex, and after discovering a benign cyst on her ovaries, realizes that she wants to have a baby. But not just with anyone.

She meets Katsuhiro and Naoya one day at a restaurant, and notices that Katsuhiro has the "eyes of a father." And she continues to pursue the couple in order to get Katsuhiro to agree to give her a baby. She does a lot of research on this subject, and in the end decides that a syringe is the best way, of course weirding out Katsuhiro and his lover, Naoya.

The movie goes a little slowly, but it does a wonderful job at looking at the way the youth of Japan are challening traditional Japanese values, and how they deal with the problems of the clashing of the "old world" and the "new world." A nice movie, cute and funny, with the most unerotic heterosexual sex scene ever, and the worst gay kiss I've ever seen. XD

The homosexuality of Naoya and Katsuhiro is subtle, and though their love and caring is very evident onscreen, unlike most "gay cinema" their sexuality is not the central point of the conflict within the movie, nor any major definer of their character. And that, in my book is always a plus. ^_^ Go see this movie, it'll be worth your time, and give you a good glimpse into what issues youth in modern Japan are learning to deal with.