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Reviews
Yureru (2006)
Slow paced, beautiful and intelligent
"Sway" (eng. title) is a genuine example of good Japanese film. It reminded me a lot of titles like "Unagi" and "A Day on the Planet".
Sway depicts an increasingly shattered family after the death of the mother. The younger son, Takeru, goes home to his hometown to visit the funeral. Inevitably, he gets involved in a romance with his ex-girlfriend Chieko, who happens to be the love of his shy, older brother Minoru. Things take a sad turn as Chieko dies and the older brother gets suspected for murder.
The movie focuses on the dynamics between the two brothers, the father and their lawyer uncle who comes to help out. The camera movements are very beautiful and the atmosphere incredibly rich. The pace is slow, as would be expected by Japanese movies of this kind, which gives the viewer time to think and grow into the story as time passes.
Sway contains several unexpected and interesting turns, but is not very action packed. I highly recommend the movie to anyone who liked the titles I mentioned in the beginning.
Hanauta dorobô (2006)
A disappointment on all levels.
"The Lost Hum", which is the English title of this movie, was the first movie ever to make me walk out of a movie theater. Not only was the recording quality horrible (I'm talking almost YouTube quality), but the acting and dialogs were at best dull and uninteresting. The editing could've been made by my some guy picked up from the street, and much of the music and the sounds were so annoying you almost held your hands over the ears.
One of the worst parts was a "filler" consisting of a shaky camera following three teenagers as they discuss some unknown topic for probably 10 minutes. The sound was so horribly recorded in this part that you couldn't even make out what they were talking about.
There are so many better things to waste your time with. Please, don't let it be this movie.