Archive for January, 2012
Movie Review: The Place Promised in Our Early Days
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
movie cover
What caught me first about this movie is the beautiful cover. Aside from the gorgeous coloring and lighting, I was drawn to the pair with violins, an instrument I played growing up. Little did I know how important lighting would be in the context of the story line; more on that later.
Ever have a dream, and it was so incredibly good? Ever wake up from that dream and you remember how awesome it was, but you don’t remember anything about it or what even happened? The writers of this movie seemed to take that concept and craft a visually and emotionally moving piece.
The story follows three friends, which is why I was shocked to learn that three are involved when the cover only shows two. I mean, I get why those two specifically are on the cover, because the focus is around the pair. But the third friend also has a major role. He’s also a MEGANE DANSHI! More on him in a later post.
But anyway, Hiroki and Takuya (not pictured in the cover) were best friends in jr. high school who shared a dream of building an airplane and flying it into the tower that reached into the sky. The girl on the cover is Sayuri. She’s a mutual friend of the pair, but she is better acquainted with Hiroki. It’s also hinted at early on that Hiroki has a thing for her. But anyway, she stumbles upon the pair’s plan, and is introduced to the future airplane that they hope to fly. She wants in on the adventure, and the THREE of them make the promise to fly the plane to the tower: the place promised.
the beautiful scenery and lighting that reoccurs
The first 45 minutes is a mysterious overlapping of past and present between the three characters. The story is told from Hiroki’s narration, but scenes are shown from the others’ as well, even though they don’t narrate. Exactly at the 45 minute mark is when the story finally settles into present day, and the main question of “what happened to them since the memory?” is answered.
The main context of the movie swirls around an ensuing war in the midst of a break on the discovery of parallel universes. It is thought that the parallel universes are given as glimpses in people’s dreams, some more than others, and especially one in particular: Sayuri. The movie begins to blur the lines of what’s real and what’s the actual dream, and probes the theory that memories fall in the same lines as dreams.
Hiroki, left, and Takuya, right in Jr. High
Perhaps my favorite quote of the movie is “in those days, the time and place would continue like that for the rest of my life.” Hiroki was referring to the times he and his two friends spent working on the plane and day dreaming about finally venturing to that place they promised. I know everyone has a time in their life that was the “good old days.” And when they’re over, are we waking up from a dream? Did we really think we could live those moments forever? “The sun is setting so slowly, isn’t it?” -Sayuri
It wasn’t until after I had finished the movie that I took a closer look at the movie cover. Note, the left side features a cold, sterile city, while the right shows a warm orange sunset. Those colors and themes are set against each other during the entire duration of the movie. They liken reality to the cold; it snows often in the main present of the the plot, and Sayuri talks about being completely alone in the world and very cold in her dreams (very eerily similar to Clannad, right?). But during hopeful bits of the dreams, or memories of the past, bright orange glows and fading sunsets illuminate the scene. And, now that you know about the orange glows, you’ll notice them constantly in nearly every scene.
Sayuri
As the first hour closes out, be sure to get your tissue boxes ready. For a good 5 or so minutes you’ll be thrown into a cry spell and question everything you’re watching. Thankfully it doesn’t last long.The last half hour focused on the present in the timeline, and the three friends are brought back together once again in a series of bizarre and unexpected events. At the end, the story wraps up nicely, not in a straight-forward unicorns and rainbows kind of ending, but a “I don’t really know what’s going to happen past this point, but it seems hopeful” kind of way. That’s good enough for me.
All in all, I’d give this one a good 4.5 stars. Though the story build slowly, it’s well thought out, the characters are deep, the message is profound, and the art is breathtaking. Makoto Shinkai created a masterpiece on this one. This kind of movie pairs well with a warm blanket (or in my case, a Harry Potter snuggie) and a hot cup of tea. You’ll never look at the colors of a winter sunset the same way again, as this movie will always settle in the back of your mind.
Kyoya AMVs that are worth a watch
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012I fell into an AMV mood and therefore, went browsing through the expanse of YouTube. Falling in love with one Kyouya/Haurhi video that I found, I scanned the sidebar for more of a similar nature. And now I present to you three videos that not only struck me as well done, but at certain points, they strike a chord in my heart. To the editors of these videos, I tip my hat to you. Kudos! And now a disclaimer from myself: I ship Haruhi and Tamaki, but I like good videos that pair alternate options. So, don’t send me a ton of mail going “It’s not canon!!!” because, I know.
This was the first one I stumbled into, and what caught me immediately was the editing. I love a video that corresponds what I’m watching to the lyrics that I’m hearing, and this video does it right off the bat. Now, the song is “Hero/Heroine” by Boys Like Girls, and I must say I’m not a fan of it; but it’s use in the video is fantastic.
Favorite moments: At 00:53, “now I’m running and screaming,” the paired scene is priceless. At 1:24 “with the ghost of my past and the skeletons,” using flashbacks of Kyoya’s family. The way the clips flip fast at 1:49-1:54 to the newly picked up beat. At 2:40, when Kyoya’s painting is the new interpretation of “running and screaming,” in response to how Haruhi’s been affecting him over the long run. That, in turn, strolls nicely into when Kyoya pushes Haruhi into the carriage, right at the reemergence of the music. The compilation at 3:20-3:30 with “your love is the sweetest thing.” The fireworks are directly over “sweetest” and then Kyoya’s lost in thought image fades in.
In videos like these, the ending is either really good or horribly cheesy. Thankfully it was the former rather than the latter.
Edit: Oh yeah, and how on earth did I forget at 00:37 “sinister smile” lyric/ clip pairing. Bloody brilliant.
I found this second one, and again, it’s another nicely edited video. I’m not crazy about the song, “Dear Mr. President” by P!nk, but I like the lyrics. Even though Tamaki is the technical ‘president’ of the Host Club, I find it fitting for the song that Kyoya is considered the Shadow King; he’s the real brains behind the operation, not Tamaki. (He’s just the heart.) The only downside that I can find is the excessive ‘talking’ that the characters do during this slow song. I find it a bit annoying, but not enough that I discount it.
Favorite moments: 00:52 “who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep,” fits perfectly with the paired scene. 1:14 when Kyoya rolls over from his sleep into the part where Tamaki is walking away from his mother with “how do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye.” I shed a tear to that part. At 3:20, the lead in to “let me tell you about hard work,” the expression on Haruhi’s face and the bags in her hands compliments it perfectly. And from 4:17 to the end, the synchronization is spot on, and I love how the end lyrics are paired with Haruhi’s ‘final statement’ and she walks away. Then Kyoya turns around, with apparent hope in his eyes.
This song I know and love: Hawk Nelson’s “Everything that you ever wanted.” The video is about Kyoya, having lost Haruhi, is now comparing himself to Tamaki. Now, normally it irritates me when there’s subtitles in the video clips, but this is the first time where the appearance of it actually made me smile (probably my favorite moment in this video, at 3:26 ). The downsides to this video are the rest of the subtitles that appear that have no context in the video and the frequent repetition of a couple of the scenes.
Favorite moments: At 1:15-1:35, the lyrics and scene pairs are very fitting. “I fell to pieces” at 2:05 when he has his melt down with Tamaki into the subsequent “then I woke up” montage. And every time the lyrics say “It took the seasons going by,” I like how the clips flash a little more quickly to show time passage. The guitar reentering the music at the very moment Kyoya slams his fist into the car at 2:31. And again, the chorus and the scenes that are corresponding to the lyrics at 2:33 are even better than the first (note the subtitle says ‘I’m an egoist’ under the lyrics “I tried to be honest”), especially the build up at “everything but you.” Did you catch it at 3:26? “I tried to be everything but you,” and the subtitle at that moment flashes “this person is unbelievably lucky.”
Again, with the endings, they usually go very well or very corny. In this case, unfortunately, it was corny. I was excited to see it ending on Haruhi running after Kyoya, but then at the last second, I face palmed. I especially dislike when the editor puts in type to be a characters words, more so when it wasn’t done during the whole video, and even more so when it’s at the very end.
So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.
Watch more of my favorite AMVs
More Ouran AMVs
Old school AMVs
My favorite AMVs of all time