Hanamizuki (2010)

When I looked at the cast of the movie, it caught my attention. Ikuta Toman, Yui Aragaki and Makai Osamu all in one movie sounded so promising. However, since I had seen mixed reviews for this film I had a feeling it would be bogus, but watched it anyway. The only reason to watch this was for its cast. And boy- it was so boring! I couldn't even finish it properly. I had to skip so much of it.

The events and incidents in this film were so pointless. It was just to show that two people can love each other even after going through crap for 10 years of their life. It was completely bogus and predictable. No enjoyment came out of it. Rather, it felt like a never-ending saga. The characters were all terrible and all the actors were under utilized in this movie. Most of all, there was no purpose to include Makai Osamu's plot in their love story. As I said- pointless.

When the movie ends you are left with your mouth wide open. And that is because it ends abruptly after all the garbage you had to endure for more than 2 hours. This, and also the actors were of no help since the story was so bad in itself. In fact, they came off as annoying. Sad to say, they were a victim of poor writing and bad direction here. Also, it has to be one of the worst love stories I have seen in Asian movies. I thought the Korean movie Classic was boring, but compared to this that could probably win an award. This one deserves an award too- a 'Challenging to Watch' award.

By the end, it is so boring that it makes you laugh. So to all the fans of these actors- spare yourself and rewatch something else. But DON'T watch this movie unless you are bored to death and want to be bored further.

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Well this movie was a big disappointment. With established actors being casted (Gakky, Ikuta Toma, Mukai Osamu), I thought that this movie would be overwhelmingly great with the acting power and fascinating storyline. However, Sae and Kouhei spent 3/4 of the drama casting each other wistful glances. Seriously? Wistful glances? Grow up, you two, you're adults already, just admit your feelings!


The Dogwood Tree was a pain. The story seemed to revolve around it (hanamizuki being the title and all), but it was just... a tree. I expected some drama over it and more... spice, but the tree just remained a tree. Ok, it's a tree and will be a tree forever, but the story is just like, oh this tree is special! Oh, I'll take care of it for life! Oh, the flowers have bloomed! Oh this is so magical! Wow! Well that's all.


Sure, this movie had its heartbreaking moments, but the 3rd party (Junichi) just served the purpose of making the couple drift even further away. 3rd parties are supposed to make the couple appreciate each other, not the other way around! Urgh this is so frustrating. And Junichi's conclusion in the storyline was so disappointing; I was just like... What? What just happened? Why?


And that's all I remember about the movie. Expected much better from a production which casted up-and-coming actors, really.

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