Category: Screenings

NYICFF 2010: Summer Wars w/ Mamoru Hosoda, Guest starring Rabbit Terry Bogard.

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When I heard that Hosoda’s plans for his next film were in the works, I was truly excited. Afterall, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time instantly became a favorite or mine, and not one that I will soon forget. So basically after hearing “He is making something, and it is called Summer Wars,” I promptly tuned out any information thereafter. Something made me want to jump in blindly, to be completely caught unaware by this next film. And truly I went into the theater with no knowledge of the plot and having only seen the poster for the film. Going in really on faith alone that it would be amazing seemed to really stimulate my imagination so you dear reader may want to turn back now and enjoy that same feeling. Though there aren’t any spoilers here, even the analysis of Summer Wars characters and themes seems like I’m telling you too much if you haven’t already experienced it.

A question I often hear is “Who is going to be the next Hayao Miyazaki, Satoshi Kon, or Mamoru Oshii? Who is going to be the next reliable anime director that people can expect quality films from?” The worry is that as the great anime directors of today retire there will be no one to take their place. I will say with full confidence that Mamoru Hosoda is a name everyone should be watching as a worthy successor to the great anime directors of the past and present. His outstanding work on the 6th One Piece film and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time had caught my eye in the past. And Summer Wars has solidified him as a director I shall go out of my way to research and keep an eye out for what he is doing next.

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New York Asian Film Festival 2009

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Last year I attended only one film, Dororo, at the New York Asian Film Festival. Though we did try to see L Change the WorLd, too, but it was sold out. In any case, this seemed like a big mistake in retrospect. There are tons of films from all different genres. Everything from pulpy mysteries to sex-centric surrealism to over-the-top samurai action to sweet romance was up for grabs at this year’s Asian Film Fest. Many of these films one might not have a chance to see otherwise. So with that in mind, and a little help from the NYAFF guide book, we set out to see some unique flicks.

I missed out on all the movies last year including Dororo but that is because if it were not for bad luck I would have no luck at all. On the other hand, Narutaki and I insisting on seeing the L movie no matter how many times life seemingly tried to let us dodge it is our own fault. But this year we are in it to win it and are hitting up a bunch of the movies playing. My priority number one was to see the 20th Century Boys movies not only because they are most relevant to the blog but also because I really enjoyed the manga. All the other movies are interesting experiments. I was not sure how many I would like but I was ready to be surprised.

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Special Screening: L Change the WorLd, A 12-year-old’s bad fan-fiction?

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SPOILERS, SPOILERS. TRUST ME YOU DON’T CARE.

Since it went over so well last time, we saw the film at the same place we watched the second Death Note movie. Once again not too crowded, though more so than when we went the other time. I didn’t go into this movie with many expectations, I had heard and read a bit about it before hand. Though frankly it would be hard for me NOT to go see a movie all about L. So with only mild hopes I braced myself for this film. Somehow the reviews didn’t do the movie justice. It was much worse than I could have imagined, it may have physically injured me at points. The only thing that prevented me from plain giving up on it was that I committed myself to writing this review! How dare you film, how dare you make me write a word against L!

W.C. Fields said, “Never work with animals or children.” L, or should I say Kenichi Matsuyama, should have listened to him. The fact an L movie was being made was hardly a surprise to anyone. He was clearly the most popular character hands down. They had the prefect place to add in one last hurrah before his ultimate end. When I first heard about the movie I was cautiously optimistic. L has to solve his last case against terrorists with a super plague having only a few days left to live. Sounds fine. Then I heard it was a stupid action movie. I was fine with that. Although L was almost always playing mental games in the manga, they also made a big deal that he was amazingly physically fit and even a martial arts master. I thought that people went into the movie expecting another mind game but got a cheesy action movie and were overly harsh. No they were overly generous. Everything that could make a movie bad was bad in this lemon of a movie. When my favorite original character was a vehicle you know you are in trouble. And before you ask it was not a cool talking car.

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