"For me, only the Ether is proof that I'm alive" "For me, only Lily is real."

"For me, only the Ether is proof that I'm alive"
"For me, only Lily is real."

One of the most depressing movies I've seen, the quintessential 'disillusioned youth' movie. It's so beautiful, Iwai's perfect direction of deeply disturbing scenes gives them a massive impact without feeling disrespectful or overdone, constantly edging the line between being overly edgy and 'emo' but never crossing it, instead being a very grounded and mature societal commentary. The plot unfolds pretty confusingly which is probably it's biggest flaw (I don't really see the point in it being non-linear) but also not something that I found issue with as it helped you flow along with it and become absorbed. If you are looking at it from some artistic standpoint, you could say that it portrayed the confusion and messiness of the youth of the characters, but idk.

The visuals and music are by far the best I've ever seen in a movie, love the soundtrack so much the album is one of my favourite albums ever if not my favourite. The score is also fantastic, Debussy was the perfect choice and the performances are especially beautiful, my favourite I've heard of Arabesque No. 1. They both combine to create a dreamy and, well, ethereal atmosphere which feels both oppressingly depressive and weightless, as if you could spread your arms and fall back into the tall grassy fields of Ashikaga. Every second of the movie has had a lot of love poured into it and it shows, on a rewatch and after further research there is a lot I missed out on the first time around. It is a unique experience and one that I haven't found anything close to.

This definitely isn't for everybody though and that's understandable, it's pretty confusing on a first watch (keep in mind it's nonlinear) and watching it with a large group of other people who are watching it for the first time made me realise that. I think you gotta be a certain kind of person to connect with this but if you connect deeply it'll be a one of a kind experience.

Spending a lot of time in Lily Chou-Chou communities online made me realise how much the movie means to so many people around the world. It's sad that the overwhelmingly bleak and cynical portrait of the world painted in the movie is reflective of real life and how many Yuichis, Tsudas, Kunos, and Hoshinos are out there. The adults are all largely absent from the children's lives, when they are present they are either fucking it up even further or giving pointless, shallow advice, leaving the kids to get sucked into a cycle of being hurt and hurting others. Their only refuge is the ether, as the tagline says:

"PAIN CAN TAKE YOU IN PRISON. THE ETHER CAN SET YOU FREE."

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I'm not sure wtf I just watched, I think that was one of the most confusing movies I've watched recently. A lot to unpack, a lot of wtf moments and a few genuinely pretty interesting and symbolic moments. Delivers the message with the subtlety of a nuclear bomb but also somehow leaves me dazed and confused as to what exactly the whole message was. The parts I did get though I thought were presented in an interesting way.

Legendary opening sequence, the whole movie was very well directed, good job @Sono, and CGI was used very well and seamlessly. The music was good if a bit repetitive at times, but it didn't detract from the movie. Packs so much into 85 minutes, the runtime flies by. Worth a watch if you are ok with Sono's craziness, sometimes gruesome imagery, and a really confusing story.

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Cold Fish but worse.

Basically Sion Sono's Cold Fish but worse. I think when they aren't found footage Shiraishi's movies feel noticably more amatuerish on a low budget. I don't get how this is a dark comedy, it just felt deathly serious to me the entire time.

The acting from everyone kinda sucked as well, Shohei Uno being the highlight as usual, as although delivering a somewhat dull performance by his standards, he still manages to be extremely intimidating and him sitting still in a chair made me more on edge than I've been watching any supernatural horror movie.

Although not horrible, Cold Fish accomplishes similar themes to this in a much more impactful, thought provoking, and confronting way and has some of my favourite performances and movie characters ever in Denden's Yukio Murata (equivalent to Uno's character) and Mitsuru Fukikoshi's Nobuyuki Shamoto (equivalent to basically everyone else in this movie).

It was nice to watch another movie from Shiraishi-san after a while even if this was a bit of a letdown, there is not much enjoyment to be had here and I'd probably rank it the worst of the full length movies I've seen from him so far.

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That's just how it is

A nice sendoff for my favourite actor Tomoya Nagase's acting career. It was nice seeing all the references and returning actors from other Nagase x Kudo dramas. The ending caught me off guard as well and although I wish there was a bit more buildup I don't have any problem with it (unlike commenters on MyDramaList). Very bittersweet. Well, "that's just how it is".

Although the least funny of their collaborations I've seen so far, it is the most maturely written, dealing with some heavy topics as Jusaburo coming to terms with his impending death. It was a pleasure seeing Nagase and Toshiyuki Nishida act together again as a father-son duo after Tiger & Dragon, and both of them give amazing performances which are both believable and heartbreaking when need be. Nishida especially broke me a little in one scene. Also, I lost it when Sadao Abe made an appearance, it was awesome seeing him again.

I consider Juichi to be the best character and Jusaburo to be the most well written out of any Nagase x Kudo collaborations I've watched before, and their characters and interactions were definitely the highlight of the show.

I recommend, it is an easy show to get into, but you'll appreciate it more if you watch other Nagase x Kudo dramas first.

Zea!!!

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Cure on Crack

Cure if Kurosawa was on crack, as the same hypnosis aspect and a very similar feeling throughout especially in the direction and cinematography. The last 20 minutes is pretty ridiculous but in an endearingly overly dramatic way so you can't get mad at it kinda ruining the rest of the movie. All of the suicides manage to be very effective and memorable scenes though, I was pretty surprised how much they stuck with me, particularly the scene with Dvorak's 'From the New World'. I really liked Masayuki Ochiai's directing here, I'm keen to watch more from him.

The first stage of the credits with the names of the stars is so overly dramatic it's awesome. Also, it's probably just a coincidence, but it was interesting seeing someone with exactly the same design as Lilico in the 2012 Helter Skelter movie.

If you want an interesting but a bit campy horror movie or something to scratch the Cure itch, I recommend.

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Well, that was confusing. An adaptation of Atsushi Kaneko's manga of the same name (which I have not read fully), this series was a wild ride which answered pretty much none of the questions it posed. There were a few good ideas, especially in the first and last episode, but you probably won't get much out of it unless you are a fan of the manga or enjoy obscure and bizarre Japanese media.

Aside from the fact that nothing made sense, sometimes the main characters were very annoying and felt too much like caricatures for me to get invested in them. Based on the bits of the manga I read, it seems like they are written the same there, but in the translation to live action their quirks became more irritating.

The highlights were the visuals and the directing, you can clearly notice Takashi Shimizu's influence.

You can watch the series on Youtube here: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHf7uUgr1SxKeDcRv-80CqzbiGZBwM7pU

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Beautiful...

A love letter to movies, never a dull moment. Very light hearted but hits when it needs to, a very easy movie to enjoy and its nice seeing another more lighthearted movie from Sono after well, everything else...

The acting was great all around but Shinichi Tsutsumi especially kills it, he is an actor I wish got more recognition in the West.

An easy and fun recommendation which devolves into a slightly unsatisfying and overly goofy bloodbath by the end, but I really love the final scene. The poster is very emblematic of the movie. Interesting ending as well.

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This is absolutely wild, an entertaining ride with excellently choreographed action which brings together various parts of Shiraishi-san's previous movies including ectoplasmic worms, Shohei Uno (again), NEO from Cult, an alternate reality Ichikawa, and of course Shiraishi-san himself, who gets humiliated the whole miniseries. Like a combination of Cult, A Record of Sweet Murder, and Senritsu Kaiki File 06.

Shohei Uno was my favourite part of the miniseries, playing basically a knockoff Hideo Suzuki from I am a Hero if he was cooler.

Worth a watch if you are a fan of Shiraishi-san, but if you haven't I would say watching some of his other movies beforehand would boost your enjoyment a lot.

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Absolutely beautiful, amazing cinematography amplifies detailed set design in some of the best world-building I've seen recently. Compelling and powerful.

Very well written dialogue both poetic and containing interesting and powerful social commentary, all enhancing the excellent worldbuilding. The movie does a great job at selling you on both the world and the characters, and you get sucked into their struggles and endeared to them very fast. It juggles various tones very well, switching from somber and melancholic to absurdly and darkly comedic or warm and homely without feeling trying or unearned. Keeps you engaged and I could never predict where it would go next. Great ending as well. Amazing soundtrack too, not quite as good as Lily Chou-Chou's but another amazing album, both when used in the movie and as standalone music.

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The most bleak, disturbing, and depraved movie I've seen I think, definitely the most from Sono. I don't see how he can make anything more fucked up than this tbh. Makes you feel a little gross after watching it. Doesn't really handle the subject matter with the appropriate care, Issei Ishida's performance particularly bothering me towards the end. Because of this, I don't think I can recommend it to people especially anyone who has had similar experiences to the characters.

The movie itself was very well made, I'd say from a moviemaking standpoint (not writing) it's Sono's most polished I've seen so far. The set design was fantastic, the movie was shot very beautifully at times with some really creative visual ideas and a lot of visual symbolism. The writing was also good, the plot and mystery unfurled very well, and by the end the reveals are satisfying yet still thought-provoking, although I had some gripes with how Yuji was written as it progressed. The non-linear narrative was handled well and never became convoluted. I really liked Masumi Miyazaki's performance at the end, reminded me of Mitsuru Fukikoshi as Shamoto in Cold Fish, which is one of my favourite performances.

This guy's thumbnail sums up my reaction to the movie: i.ytimg.com/vi/ycrneYdtqJ0/hqdefault.jpg

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