15th Japanese film festival

Helooo, heello......?? Oh god im so lonely...

After exams, everything went by infinitely slower. But I finally gathered enough strength to go to the annual 15th Japanese film festival! Last year we watched Confessions :)

This year, I believe the amount of good quality movies increased. Some included Gantz live action, Buddha: The great departure, A ghost of chance and many many more.

We initially planned to watch The Secret World of Arrietty...

Except it was sold out ;-(

The screenplay was by Hayao Miyazaki! Who also made Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle~~

Now's a good time for a Howl inset!

Next year I'm booking a month in advance....
Anyway we decided to watch a random movie where the title sounded cool.

Milocrorze: A love story

OHH WHAT LOVE STORY??

After watching the entire movie, it felt like something was missing...

The only thing stuck in my mind was the crazy man


extrait:Milocrorze: A Love Story

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I knew it was going to be something similar to The butcher, the chef and the swordsman.
BUT don't worry, it wasn't that horrid. The scenes weren't repetitive and as vulgar as the Chinese one. I guess Milocrorze would rate about 6.5 on my scale.

Again there were 3 stories which were in no way related at all. Except in the 2nd arc the man ran himself over(same actor lol) who was the samurai in the 3rd arc. The last arc was the most interesting. A samurai was looking for his long lost love-- who was taken away by aliens LOL. I won't spoil it for people who will watch but it was a fast paced, violent and sad arc. All the character's lives were either sad or silly anyway. The cramming of three plots into one which weren't related at all made the movie too blasé. You can't retain any feelings for the characters and it was pretty much a comedic impromptu.

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Anyway in between that we went to that Korean bbq down the dark alley just like last year ♡
I see this is becoming a ritual. Finally remembered the restaurant lol, it's Kozy.

Our hot pot this time with kim chi and pork.


The seafood pancake was sooo delicious!

We drank soju again. For some reason my eyeballs felt like exploding.
Anyway this is with my friend I knew since beginning of high school.
Yet now I only see her 2 times a year :(

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Some other movies sounded very interesting.
I should have skipped work and watched....

It's about Kei Kurono and his friend Masaru Kato who die in a train accident and become part of a semi-posthumous "game". They and several other recently deceased people are forced to hunt down and kill aliens armed with a handful of futuristic items of equipment and weaponry. (From wiki lol)

It sounded like another version of The world ends with you - DS game. My friend who reads the manga said it is too violent and gory for silly girls. I asked how so and he said because aliens cut people up and vice versa ;( I will still watch it anyway...

Another animation that got astounding reviews was

Buddha: The Great Departure

Such beautiful animation! And the scenes were well scripted too, I heard. It's based on Buddha but dramatised. It starts when Siddhartha, the Buddha, who starts to search for the truth in life and all the obstacles and betrayal that follow after abandoning his royal life to commence his great journey.


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A Ghost of Chance


Unfortunately this movie already screened when I found out about the festival.
Ghost of Chance, a comedy, involves a lawyer who acquired a murder case and has to defend a man who supposedly killed his wealthy wife. There are no alibis or clues................. save for a ghost only she can see! What will she do to save this supposedly innocent man and what shocking secrets will she unearth as she inquires deeper? Man I really wanted to watch this!

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A while ago I watched another Tetsuya Nakashima movie

Memories of Matsuko

(who also made the great psychological thriller CONFESSIONS!)

The description is as bland as always.

When the body of a female tramp is found in the park, her nephew, Shou, is given the burden of cleaning out her apartment. Shou was given the impression her life was meaningless. The initial history of Matsuko's life was corny. She was a well loved school teacher but a few sandwiches short of a picnic~~ really stupid in an innocent way. But why was she murdered?

The movie reflected what was beautiful about human life, the emotions and the events that even a nobody like Matsuko could achieve. It was so sad, you cannot stop tearing up at least once!!! The actress was amazing because she was bullied by the director to act the part he envisioned ;/ And in the end she said she never wants to work with him again. Even though the movie was a success lol.


I think this is the most beautiful scene in the movie, even though a body is there ✩~
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Anywho.. It may seem like my life is boring and only revolves around movies. But I still have friends and coworkers who kick the hikikomori-ness out :D

There was the annual Christmas work party again!! WOW time really swishes by!!
The bosses hired a place close by this year so it was much more easier to get to and it was much more fun because all the girls I worked with were there. Unlike last year it was just fobs :( AHAHA I won $50!! Then spent it all on perfume ;/

A boss whose wife I had once admired for her fringe is now pregnant!! She still looks so young and she still has that fringe which I still admire lol.
The workers from the other store seemed like they downsized..
The Yuki (from perfect girl evolution) lookalike had quit and my coworker said it was because she repeatedly called in 'sick' right before her shift and actually wanted to work at our store LOL. She even applied for our store first but got kicked over to there. If she worked here I can just imagine the staring I would give her...... "Your haircut is so cool! We are deprived of manly figures here!"

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I am going overseas this year. It is exciting but anxiety inducing because I'll definitely become home-sick and get food poisoning and maybe some sort of incurable disease... Yes, it's time to visit family in China again. In complete honestly if I didn't have certain nice family members from there, I would HATE that place. It is a dirty and an extremely degenerate place!! Other than hating certain mannerisms, I also hate the pollution. I have to eat Yum Cha all the time(MSG overload!!) because my grandparents suck at cooking and will be meeting my cousins (extremely geocentric brats). Also people like to cheat you as often as possible and everyone showcases their wealth with LV bags which are like normal bags rolled in mud. Ok time to stop the hating :(
It's just a love/hate relationship :/
I'm still excited!
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Time to prepare for New Year~~

Au revoir!