Blucher
One of the worst movies I've ever seen
Edwin
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
thenekassyni
This is an excellent film to watch. The narrative style, music, art style and story will capture your mind and hearts. For those that are or have gone through similar events it will bring tears of everything...sorrow, sadness, happiness and hope.The acting is top notch by all the actors. The camera work and even the cgi's are well done. The music is a mixture and well thought out. The simple little song will get to you eventually, it's unbelievable. This is one of my few all best movies to watch over and over. I just love it. I highly recommend watching it if you haven't seen it yet. I think it will appeal a lot more to females but men like me when enjoy it just as much.Edit 12/01/2013 After reading some of the more recent reviews I feel, still, that so many simply cannot understand this movie. Those that claim to understand it the most are the worst as they completely missed the point. Yes it is about the good and bad in life but more importantly it is about this one person (or woman if you prefer) journal and why she took that journey. If you cannot understand the simple fact that although she initially wanted to break away she ultimately is really on a search to find family, a home. What started at the beginning is what ends at her life, simply beautiful. 90% of you don't even know what I mean by this.I am really astonish and sad for those that can't fully enjoy and understand this movie.
random-intestine
The film tells the story of a woman named Matsuko, who is recently deceased, as her nephew Sho uncovers her story piece by piece by talking to people she knew. Matsuko's life is tragic. She seems to go from hard times to hard times. But despite this despair her heart is always open. Her younger sister is very ill and as a result, her father is often to preoccupied with her to show young Matsuko the love that she craves from him. As a result Matsuko is desperate to be loved, and cannot help but become head over heels in love with every man that she has relations with. Unfortunately this leads to her being abused by many of these men and getting into lots of trouble along the way. She sees her life as a fairy tale, which the director illustrates by modelling the movie on a classic musical romance. The film's style is bright and magical which means that, like Matsuko herself, you feel as if this tale can only have a happy ending. Unfortunately for Matsuko her tale is actually very real and tragic and ends with her falling through the cracks of society and dying alone and dirty in a mess of an apartment.The first time I saw this film I cried quite epically and carried on doing so for about half an hour after the film was finished. Which is very unusual, because I had never cried over a film up until that moment. I could not stop thinking about the film for a few days afterwards and even now I'll think of it from time to time and some of those emotions come back. There's just something about this film which seems to deeply penetrate your emotional centre in a way that you would not expect a film to do. I would definitely recommend seeing this film, as it is a cinematic masterpiece.
dbborroughs
Profoundly sad, deeply moving (upbeat) musical about a 20 year old young man named Sho with no direction. His father shows up one day and asks him to clean out the apartment of the aunt he never knew, the titled Matsuko. It seems Matsuko had been found beaten to death four days earlier and the father had come to Tokyo to have her cremated. As Sho goes through his aunt's belonging and talks to the people who knew her the course of her life is revealed in song.Unique one of a kind film rightly won tons of awards around the world but has yet to get any sort of release in the US. I'm not surprised. The profoundly sad story is in contrast to the upbeat musical numbers. How do you sell this to a western audience that wants things to be a certain way? You can't which is a profoundly sad thing since this is in its way a truly great film. Personally I don't like the darkness of its tale but at the same time this film had me sobbing on more than one occasion. This is also a film of such technical skill that it puts most Hollywood musicals (dare I say films period?) to shame Personally I would love to write a fuller review up but I just can't do it. Its just a place I can't go to.What is the measure of a life? by what we receive or what we give? One of the best films I've seen this year
maurazos
It is a real tragicomedy! This film is about cruel facts, but under a musical comedy appearance. It is a movie that made me cry, as if I still were 15 years old. And I cried because what is told in the film can happen... And unfortunately it actually happens everywhere and everyday. It is a film that has made me believe again in the Japanese cinema. In this movie I have seen a Kenji Mizoguchi's spirit revival, because of the way it describes the life of a woman who is mistreated by everybody and whose life is irremediably ruined. Doesn't this story remember Mizoguchi's "Oyu-sama"? I also saw some Akira Kurosawa's influences, like the colorful shanty dwelling Matsuko lives in during the last years of her sad existence: aren't they close to the ones Kurosawa showed in "Dodeskaden"? According to my point of view, this is the best Japanese film of this still young 21st century.
