Perfect Days Japanese Film Thoughts(2023)

 

   Perfect Days is a film that was a collaboration between Japan and Germany. The film was directed by Wim Wenders while the script was written by him along side Takuma Takasaki. Academy Awards gave the film a Best International film nomination but the film didn't win. Still, Perfect Days was haled as a massive award wining project by other film associations; With lead actor Koji Yakusho being praised for his performance.

    A simple account of a Japanese man living out his normal days as a bathroom cleaner. 

    For a film to take such a simple story of just following a man's life while also making the content interesting was so amazing for me. Perfect Days isn't really about much while, still being crafting so much in the simple lines of very day life. There's a looming mystery of our main character since he doesn't have much lines. He's also very aloof most of the film. Watching him interact with others as well as live is so captivating for some reason. I think that this film would be this good but, I was surprised. By the conclusion of Perfect Days, you find out that everything isn't so "perfect" for our leading man. He still continues to live on though. The final two scenes are probably the most powerful in the whole film. 

     One aspect of Perfect Days that really supports the film's progression is the soundtrack: which is mostly classics by African American artists. These songs fill the main character's workdays as he listen to them as he drives along. Feeling Good By Nina Simone was a great selection to end the film with that shot of the city in the setting sun. A lot of the camera shots use outward shots or shots that convey events without doing too much in a scene. Less was more for this film and it worked wonders. 

    Koji Yakusho carried this whole film on his back and didn't seem to break a sweat. He conveyed so much to the viewer without dialogue or support from costars. He really showed that he has the talent to be engulfed in a character's existence to being out that character's very essence.   

    Perfect Days is a film that everyone should watch at least one time. It's a film that will allow you to take something away from what you see. I wish more film were like this. 

Chanyeol(찬열) - Black Out Album Thoughts (K-pop/K-indie)

 

  

   Chanyeol is a singer that is with the label SM Entertainment under the boy group Exo as well as their Chinese sub group. He's known as a singer, actor, and rapper. Finally, news of his solo career broke into the media. Not long after, he released his first EP titled Black Out. 

💿Track List

01. Black Out *Title
02. Hasta La Vista
03. Ease Up
04. Back Again
05. I’m on your side too
06. Clover

    One thing I can say is that I'm glad that SM allowed Chanyeol to have full creative control over the sound that he wanted to produce for this album. Black Out doesn't sound like music that you would get from a normal idol. Instead, you get music that leans more into the indie music scene. Chanyeol has stated in the past that he is a huge fan of pop punk rock music from bands such as Green Day and this defiantly can be heard in his debut. Black out as a title track is a mid tempo pop rock song that's mainstream feeling enough to appeal to the masses yet, underground enough to be artsy. He also adds his influence of rap into the track list, creating a pop rock hip hop hybrid that actually works in his favor musically. All of this man's love for the music that inspired him as an entertainer is here. I'm not mad at this album at all. I knew when I heard Black Out for the first time that his debut solo album would be something special. 

     Chanyeol might not be a singer that's been singing since birth however, I can hear that hard work that been out into his craft to keep up with the naturally gifted. His rapping is decent too. You know how Idol labels will make a singer a rapper if they feel like it fits that group's image? At least Chanyeol plays his role well. 

   Chanyeol and D.O.'s solo albums are some of my favorites from EXO's members. Kai isn't bad either. I just don't listen to him as much. 

Love Life(ラブライフ) Japanese Film Thoughts(2022)

 

   Love Life is a Japanese film released in 2022 by director Koji Fukada and stars Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, with Hirona Yamazaki. The film was met with positive reviews after its debut at many foreign film festivals. Much like Fukada's other films, viewers praised this film for its deep dive into human emotion through loss. 

   A wife is caught between a rock and a hard place after her ex husband comes back into her life just when tragedy strikes her newly formed family. It doesn't help that the cracks in her relationship with her husband and his family also start to show. 

   Love Life is a very very mature like a disfunction after the loss of a loved one. That loss is what really causes the disfunction to show. Even though, some people might try their hardest to hide the cracks, they're still there and will just get bigger over time. All the characters have emotional issues which are shown from the very first scene of awkwardness. You feel so weird that it makes you question what happened. Then, more scenes come that make you kinda cringe and you began to realize that they foundation that this family was built on started out wrong in the first place. Sadly, a child is caught in the crossfire of the disfunction. I guess the two parents come to an understanding that this is some kind of new normal  for them because the film ends with acceptance in a way. What was really enjoyable about this film was the back and forth between what was right or wrong. There really was no real concrete answer. Cheating is wrong, Abandonment is wrong. Breaking up a relationship before it gets to the alter is wrong too. However, if a relationship can survive this much then, you have something fruitful. 

    This film makes some great use of filmography to covey the progression of the story. I loved the slow motion of the plane gliding through the tub of water, or the far off shot of the final scene. Fukada wades in emotional pain from the camera lens.  

    The whole cast is good at crafting what is unsaid in their performances. We get a lot of self control until one character reaches a boiling point. Man... Do these characters have their moments. Sometimes you have to let out how you truly feel.