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Hiroshi66
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Re: J-Drama Video Club: Now Watching - Love Letter (Movie)
Nchristi, thanks for posting the maps of Otaru City! It looks like Otaru is one of the northernmost cities on the island of Hokkaido, close to the sea. One of my favorite aspects of this movie was the setting. I, too, loved seeing all the winter scenes throughout the film, with snow covering the houses and streets. What a cozy feeling! I've only seen snow a few times, so watching this movie makes me want to take a trip to a place with a snowy climate to experience it. I loved all the scenes with the hills and mountains covered in snow, too. After seeing some of the scenery in the movie, Hokkaido looks like such a beautiful place with lots of nature.
I also enjoyed the musical score. It was very light and simple, but it seemed to complement the story and scenery very well. I think all of the music was played on the piano. It was very relaxing -- it's the type of music I would listen to if I were staying home on a cozy, rainy day drinking hot cocoa. Really nice and relaxing music!
The movie seemed to become a little draggy during certain parts for me, too. I was really interested throughout the second part, but I couldn't get into it for awhile. It sure was an interesting story, though. Hiroko had lost her fiancé in a mountain climbing accident. His name was Fujii Itsuki, and it turns out that his female classmate in middle school had the same exact name! I guess Itsuki is a name in Japanese that can be used for both males and females. When Hiroko wrote Itsuki a letter, thinking that it would go undelivered since her fiancé had passed away, she got an answer! It turns out that the female Fujii Itsuki (who still lives in Otaru) received the letter. Their correspondence begins. Hiroko learns many things about her late fiancé's days in junior high school, while Itsuki finds out that her classmate with the same name passed away two years before. I, too, am getting the feeling that there may be something deeper in the plot, but I can't figure it out right now, either.
I did like the acting, especially the Hiroko/Itsuki actress. It must be difficult for one actress to play two different roles in the same production! But I thought this actress did a great job. The Hiroko actress looked a little familiar, so I'm trying to remember if we've seen her in a J-drama before.
Overall, it was a well done film. Loved the music and the scenery the most. Episode 1 of High School Teacher will be posted next Saturday, October 31st.
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10/25/2009, 7:23 pm
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Hiroshi66
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Re: J-Drama Video Club: Now Watching - High School Teacher - Ep. 01
Episode 1
I watched the first episode of High School Teacher yesterday. The story seems to follow the male biology teacher, played by Sanada Hiroyuki. I think his first name is Takao. He's working part-time at a research lab headed by the father of his fiancé. However, during the days, he is teaches biology (for the first time) at an all-female high school. Even though he has just started, he doesn't seem to particularly enjoy teaching, and is planning on quitting after 3 months and getting a full-time job at the research facility, promised to him by his future father-in-law.
Then we have the main female character, Mai. We don't much about her yet, but she seems to live with her father who is a sculptor. We haven't found out the reasons yet, but Mai doesn't seem to get along well with the other girls at school. She only has one friend that talks to her, but we haven't really found out the reason why Mai is often teased and tormented by the other students. She is certainly eccentric. One scene had her hide under the teacher's desk, take off Mr. Takao's sock and draw a picture of a kitty on his foot -- at the same time another faculty member was in the room! She's also gone to his apartment after following him on the train and through the supermarket.
Some other characters we were introduced to have been Takao's fiancé. Was she the one Mai and her friend spotted driving around in a green car with another man? Then we have the English teacher at the high school, who prides himself on being the 'most popular' teacher among the high school girls. And then there's the strict P.E teacher. His young son was handicapped after being pushed off a park swing by one of his father's students. This caused the teacher to violently confront his student, ending up in him getting fired for using violence against a student.
Then there is the mysterious card that showed up in Takao's mailbox. "Help me." With no name or indication of where it came from.
I enjoyed Sanada Hiroyuki's acting very much. Quite a believable performance. Then again, there were quite a few scenes that made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Such as Mai's father's treatment of the nude sculpture model who ended up being pregnant. He threw her out of the house violently and proceeded to destroy the sculpture he was working on. No wonder Mai doesn't want to come home...
Then there was the violent confrontation between the P.E teacher and the students. It looks like that teachers in Japan are given the authority to be on the 'look-out' and monitor their student's activities after class.
It's still the first episode, but I'm not really 'into' this one yet. Hopefully Ep. 2 will give us some more information about the different characters we're seeing in this one.
Episode 2 will be posted next Saturday, November 7th.
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11/1/2009, 7:10 am
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brad6
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Re: J-Drama Video Club: Now Watching - High School Teacher - Ep. 01
I decided not to watch this drama. I looked it up in several places and it sounds a little too 'dark' and somewhat contraversial (?sp).
Right now I seem to need either lighter stuff or interesting non violent history.
Peg
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11/1/2009, 10:53 am
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nchristi
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Re: J-Drama Video Club: Now Watching - High School Teacher - Ep. 01
Watched Episode 1 today. I like Sanada, but not the story so far. But will see where it goes. Looks like it's going to be a Romance Noir, like seeing Glenn Close reborn as a Japanese schoolgirl—Psycho Girl meets Adult Male sans brain.
As it progressed, though, I began to feel sorry for the teacher, Hamura Takao. He's being played by his fiancée. Maybe 'played' isn't the right word. But she is engaged to him while going to the "Hotel Nuts" [yep, that's really the name] for a 'quickie' with another man, a tryst watched by Mayu (psycho girl) and her friend.
To be fair, I can't be too hard on Mayu, either. As described by Hiroshi, her situation at home is quite awful. Talk about psychos... her sculptor dad is a genuine one, so I guess she comes by it honestly. What a violent, crazy guy! Yikes. I can only wonder at Mayu's life with him. (I wonder whatever happened to Mom?)
Too soon to tell, but my gut feeling is that we're watching the beginnings of a terrible trainwreck of two lives picking up steam and taking place before our eyes. Hamura should never have let that girl into his apartment at night the first time... purely stupid. She's already like fly-paper and if he had any smarts he would have taken great and strong measures to snuff her interest in him. Of course, then we would not have a story!
What does this one remind me of? Faint recollections of Lolita, not the characters themselves, only the aspect of humans stepping into psychological quicksand with the reader/observer watching their inexorable descent into depravity and darkness. Don't know if I'm up to the emotional, psychological destruction I'm afraid we're going to be seeing in this one. I'm also very well aware of the Japanese male sexual obsession with schoolgirls, which makes it harder for me to watch this one without categorizing it simply as a prurient means towards that desire.
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11/1/2009, 5:40 pm
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Hiroshi66
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Re: J-Drama Video Club: Now Watching - High School Teacher - Ep. 01
class blockquote nchristi wrote:
But she is engaged to him while going to the "Hotel Nuts" [yep, that's really the name] for a 'quickie' with another man, a tryst watched by Mayu (psycho girl) and her friend.
Yep, I could hardly believe my eyes when I first watched that scene with Hamura's fiancée and the other man walking into the doors of the "Hotel Nuts." Hmm, I guess the owners might have some trouble coming up with a suitable name for their hotel, LOL!
But I agree, I'm also getting a bit of a weird vibe from the story so far. Especially from Mayu and her sculptor dad... something is not right in that household. When the dad was 'attacking' his sculpture and literally hacking it into pieces, Mayu calmly entered the room and started picking up the pieces of clay, as if this was a common occurrence in their household. I, too, am wondering about what could have happened to Mayu's mom. Did she pass away? Or did she and her sculptor husband get a divorce? With all the violence we saw from Mayu's dad in just one scene, I can see him being an abusive husband and father. Hmm.
I was a bit surprised that the school administration is so lax in dealing with the relationship between the teachers and the students. There was one scene where the English language teacher was flirting with a group of students, who wanted to join the tennis club he was sponsoring. In a later scene, we saw the same teacher happily pick up a bunch of 'love notes' from his locker and brag about them to Mr. Hamura. I wonder if students leaving private notes and cards (most likely not related to school) for their teachers is a common occurrence in Japanese high schools?
As for Mr. Hamura, I feel the same way -- he shouldn't have allowed Mayu into his apartment that night. Since she's been there once and followed him home a couple of times, I can imagine that it will be difficult for her to just forget about Mr. Hamura, especially now that she's found out his fiancée is visiting the "Hotel Nuts" with another man. But I'm really not looking forward to a lot of emotional 'drama' either. I'm surprised how dark this drama is compared to some of screenwriter Shinji Nojima's more recent works, such Love Shuffle.
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11/1/2009, 8:15 pm
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brad6
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Re: J-Drama Video Club: Now Watching - High School Teacher - Ep. 01
I am trying to add something for 'BOSS' but can't find the right place to put it.
Therefore I will put it here andhope it will be replaced if necessary. I hope this works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHVYzpXnfqk
This should be a collection of pictures of Takenouchi Yutaka as his character in "BOSS".
Somewhat delicious.
Peg
Last edited by brad6, 11/4/2009, 10:29 pm
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11/4/2009, 10:28 pm
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11/29/2009, 8:09 pm
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class spoiler Between the time's 30:00 and 32:30 in the video (this is so that you may fastforward through this part) there is a scene in the next episode (Episode 02) where we have a teacher forcibly raping a student.
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