I started doing this as a collected 4 movies review in one post but I found myself going waaaaaaay too lengthy ( especially in bitching about the ones I disliked ). So uhmm… Part 1/4 hey ho! Here we go?
Somehow I’d managed to catch four Japanese films in the cinema in the span of six weeks or so. In Malaysia. Strange, I know. But the experience can best be described as a see-saw. Because for every good movie I watched, I ended up watching a really horrible one the next. Thankfully I started with an awful one, and I ended the J-movies spree with Departures, which was just amazing. Anyway, onwards, brave trooper! To tl;dr-ville!
Dance, Subaru / 昴 スãƒãƒ«
WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN
Let’s just say I’m glad I’d got free movie passes to this because it’ll pain me to even pay RM6 for this movie. Did you watch the trailer? Did you read the movie summary online? Not yet? Here you go!
Subaru and her twin brother Kazuma share a dream in becoming ballet dancers, but their passion is discouraged by their father. After Kazuma’s death from a hereditary illness, dancing became Subaru’s only happiness and she yearns to lose herself in dance. Her life takes a dramatic turn when she runs into cabaret owner Isuzu, who recognizes the talent in Subaru and trains her in her nightspot.
But to become a professional ballerina, Subaru has to overcome harsher challenges. Spurred on by her rivaling dance companions, Subaru enters an international dance competition, to vie for recognition and a scholarship to any top ballet company in the world.
~ from AsianMediaWiki
Done? Yeah, congratulations! You’d just watched the movie inside out! I had not been so BORED out of my mind in a cinema for ages. Even as mind numbing as Transformer 2 was; even as plothole-riddled as Terminator: Salvation was, at least I was not screaming mentally to myself as I was watching this wanting to strangle the characters for being so CARDBOARD and annoying.
So it’s supposed to be an inspiring movie. Reach out for your dreams and NEVER give up despite the harsh conditions you’re in.
Well I’m sorry but I think I’d been jaded by the whole loads of moeroooooooo seishun!-stories from Weekly Shonen JUMP. Subaru, as a heroine is as likable as a day old sour milk. I .. supposed her character was meant to be portrayed as ‘cooly eccentric genius and slightly socially inept’. But personally, I think she’s just REALLY, REALLY STUCK UP AND UNLIKABLE. Someone please send Noda Megumi from Nodame Cantabile over right now. THAT is one eccentric genius who’s socially inept that I love.
So, spoilers under cut and all the jazz. Click to show/hide.
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And the story? Is as predictable as you will have from a multiplication table. Her father doesn’t want her to dance, she continues dancing despite protest, oh woe is her. She hung out with older and slightly dodgy crowd, danced at a strip-bar/club to earn money for her official ballet classes’ tuition fees.
She had this rival-friend-IDEK-anymore-sorta-childhood-acquaintance who went out of her way to enroll Subaru in an audition for a part in Swan Lake performance. Subaru can’t seem to coordinate with everyone else because she never had official ballet lessons ( according to her and the others ).
Waitaminute, excuse me? No official ballet lessons? What about those dances she learnt from the owner of the strip bar ( who’s an ex professional ballerina ) and the LESSONS she took from her friend/rival mother’s classes (which was the EXACT reason she mentioned she needs the money from her part time job at the bar for)? Are those NOT professional classes/lessons? And wouldn’t that mean she actually had MORE lessons than any other dancers?
She got yelled at by the instructor and was sent off saying that she can’t dance and her friend was chosen for an important role in the dance production? Subaru blew a cap and declared that she will come back again in a week to prove that she’s the one most suitable for the role.
Now take a minute here, is that just BITCHY or what?
And I don’t even wanna talk about how she BUST IN some street dancing dance-off outta NOWHERE and shows off her UBER AWESOME MOVES that wow-ed everyone onboard. And that was her first time EVER seeing a street dance
Mary Sue much?
Most reviews about this movie online had been really positive. I don’t know why I had this extreme nerd-like movies aficionado rage against it. Maybe it’s the overly predictable plot, the unlikable and flat characters, and the uninspiring dance movements ( except maybe the last dance sequence, that was kind of good )? But seriously? Uninspiring dance moves in a MOVIE ABOUT DANCING? That’s just criminal!
A-and..Subaru is like… the Bella Swan minus the sparkly vampire boyfriend @.@; whom I kind of want to slap every now an then because she OFTEN brought trouble to herself because she doesn’t seem to care for ANYONE else except for herself. Ugh.
