It’s software that you buy (Mullvad is the one I use, Nord and Express are other popular ones) so the how to use is basically install and turn on. Ex: mine looks like this
Mullvad allows you to do a 5 euro one month payment or do a subscription, but you must be very careful not to lose your account number as they take no personal information to assign it to. The others I listed I don’t think you can do a one month and need to pay for a full subscription (could be wrong, feel free to check their respective sites).
you can also use a free vpn like the one with opera gx browser , create an account, launch a stream and stoping the vpn when the video has started. I’ts work fine and its free
First, Ito, which was fun enough, I guess. Not the feelgoodiest feelgood movie I’ve ever seen, but it was nice. Though for some reason, the volume was way down low - which was a bit ironic considering characters were regularly asking the protagonist to speak up. Had to turn my speakers way up to hear it.
Second, Until the Break of Dawn. Some bits of that one hit like a ton of bricks. Also surprised to encounter Hashimoto Ai again, as the focus character of the second act. It’s weird how regularly I seem to come across the same actor multiple times in the same Japanese Film Festival - think I saw Lily Franky three times in the 2019 festival. And also Endo Ken’ichi as the focus character of the first act, who played the protagonist’s father in Teppan, the asadora I translated. Also, the moment grandma reveals that looking in the mirror kills both the looker and the owner, it was pretty obvious to me what happened to Ayumi’s parents…
A question for anyone who’s seen the film: I was a little confused by the whole “I know that you know that I know” aspect of the second act. How does Misono know that Arashi believes that she caused Misono’s death? I mean, when Misono realised that Arashi had stolen her pick-up line, she prepared the message from Ayumi as a test for Arashi, but did Arashi pass the test by apologising, or fail it by not saying what she was apologising for? That is, by having Ayumi deliver her message, was her aim to give Arashi peace, or to twist the knife one last time? Was the message true, or a lie? When Ayumi asked Arashi in the third act whether she regretted meeting Misono, her reply felt a bit… off. (And while we’re at it, did Arashi really mishear when Misono was boasting to her classmates about being better for the role in the play?) I mean, I guess some of these questions are left as an exercise to the viewer, but I kinda want some closure here.
You must be very stoic! You didn’t find the guy almost killing himself due to depression and self-neglect sad? How he kept it to himself and barely anyone seemed to notice until it was too late, despite the fact that he was surrounded by people? Or the fact that he was so selfless, he kept around people who were taking advantage of his kindness, such as the apprentice who still didn’t know how to make ramen after 2 whole years, while everyone else stayed for 1-3 months? How he attracted the poor and old due to his low prices/big portions, and couldn’t make much of a profit, thus one of his apprentices had to buy him an apartment even after he sold the plot of land? How his closest friends for so long seemed to be old classmates he saw once a year? How he still refused to go back home despite his great love of it, because he still wanted to cling to his memory of it, just as he had wanted to deny and hide his grief over his wife’s passing for over a decade?
I am glad that some of his apprentices appreciated what he’d done for them and how he gave them a chance at life without any prejudice. He was a man of great generosity. But I’d go as far as to say that anyone who is sensitive to themes such as depression should probably avoid this documentary.
Awesome, thanks for sharing! I’m a filmmaker myself, so I love film festivals like this. Hugely recommending Rashomon if anyone here has never seen a Kurosawa film!
Oh, I guess we really had a different understanding of the movie !
Of course, the disease and the wife’s death were very sad. And he definitely didn’t care about him anymore (saying he was letting his place to ruins and was doing that with his body as well), but at least he worked hard to make others happy. For me, I felt he wanted to give happiness to everyone, he wanted to help his apprentices and didn’t judge anyone. He would just try his best to bring his happiness to everyone and that is how I felt toward the movie. And in the end, other people tried to give him back what they received from him, such as giving him an appartment, or visits with him with their family to warm him up. He didn’t have a lot of money in the end, but because he was a great man to everyone he received a lot of sympathy.
I really see this movie more as a story of life and humanity (cause life can be depressing sometimes) more than a depression movie. But of course, we all see differents things and some points stand out more or less depending on people
I liked it. Mo’ money, mo’ problems especially with legacy families have traditional rules with long history and entwined in politics. The main character seemed naive, had no idea she was in a paper marriage.
ReLife
I liked it, I had to ignore the sci-fi loopholes and bad logistics. Very much a self improvement to help define your future type of thing. I had watched G線上のあなたと私 and 南くんの恋人 with Taishi Nakagawa and liked them. Maybe I’m just a sap but I think you have to be to enjoy most J drama really. Many don’t hit the mark too, but I think they did here.
I did appreciate his generosity and found it inspiring at times, but it was all very mixed up with the way he threw himself into his work because he had nothing else left, as an extremely unhealthy way to cope with his grief. He erased himself and became selfless to the point of harming himself, it’s a rather common (textbook even) dynamic that deeply depressed individuals regularly fall into. And then he lost even that. I’ve seen a lot of old people who end up in similar situations, mostly alone and neglected, with some sprinkles of company here and there. I was just a bit perplexed by your comment about not finding it sad at all. As you say though, different things stand out to different people.
Just watched Aristocrats. It was okay, it kept my interest but didn’t really impress me. It was very subdued throughout, and I don’t feel it explored its themes as deeply (or widely) as it could. Listening-wise I think it would have been fairly understandable, but the volume was a little low coming from my speakers and I couldn’t be bothered with headphones, so I’m not sure.
Today’s film was Mio’s Cookbook. I enjoyed it, though I confess some of the character interactions had me thoroughly perplexed. I didn’t really find any issues with the acting that others commented on.
Was surprised to encouter Takushimaru Hiroko, another actor from Amachan, playing a minor role (albeit playing pretty much exactly the same character as she was in Amachan…). For book club relevance, she was also in the movie version of コーヒーが冷めないうちに
I watched Ozland yesterday and it was good. If you want a heart warming, comforting easy-to-watch movie you should go for this one. The story was super cute as well as the characters. On top of that, the themed park is beautiful, it felt like magic.
Thought it was great, the shamisen Tsugaru-ben speaking grandma was a treat and the setting of Aomori and the combo of performances with acting and real natives of the dialect made it a nice watch.
Happy Flight
Really fun to see the surrounding work and potential chaos to get an airplane off the ground and the cost of air travel. I kept wondering if ANA wanted their name on the film or not while watching, haha.
Watched and really enjoyed The Chef of South Polar! It was cathartic in a way, and felt a bit like lockdown escapism. It had all those elements you’d associate with quarantine and can commiserate about, but also featured an ‘exotic’ location and a professional chef who makes your fancy food instead of you looking up increasingly complex recipes online. It was a really chill movie, probably my favourite so far. Just a bunch of lovable and less lovable weirdos living life.
Just watched すばらしき世界/Under the Open Sky (why didn’t they translate it Wonderful World?). I liked it a lot. It was complicated, like real life is. Not the plot, which was simple enough (ex-convict gets out of prison after many years, tries to get by), but what it conveys. There are no clear-cut lines, no obvious good and bad, just life, with all its inconsistencies and little tragedies and little joys. The main character (and many of the side characters) was really likeable, despite his many flaws. Very good acting.
