BAD Editing & Production overwhelmed the good
I enjoyed the story in the sense of the connection between Koi and Natsume, even the mysticism/spirituality they brought into it with the Fire dance and the ocean scenes.THE BAD: the camera work was terrible, editing was even worse or maybe it was just the Director was drunk the whole time. Moments that should have been shorter, dragged on; running around, walking around, etc. Moments that needed more time for story development were cut out. Scenes ended abruptly, where you think "that part ended up on the editing floor" and then a green screen at the very end that was so damn obvious. Zoom ins that were shaky and too close and too many times the camera felt like it was thrown around. No one seemed to know how to use a camera stabilizer! They wrecked the movie. And because of the terrible editing it got hard to understand what the hell was going on. The actors did the best with what they were given. Crappy Ending, with unexplained bits. I don't get the high ratings from those who have viewed it before me.
Not re-watchable at all. Even the music was not the great.
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Story: 5.0
The story follows a young model who moves to a small town in order to help take care of her ailing grandfather’s business. The story itself was slightly complicated for me to follow, just because it was slightly all over the place and didn’t quite have a flow. The spine of the film was there, with the relationship, they meet, something happens to split them apart, they met again, then break up spine, but what we got was a slight mess. What the story lacked in terms of dialogue or even a good plot it tried to make up for with Shock value. This story isn’t for the faint of heart, if you don’t like films that include attempted rape, some emotional damage, or the couple doesn’t gets together in the end, this story would not be for you.
Acting/Casting: 9.5
What the story lacked in flow and choppy editing, it made up for in casting. The chemistry between the two leads is what really made this film stand out for me. If anything, without the chemistry between any of the characters, this wouldn’t even be worth the watch.
The only casting choices or not even acting choices, mostly having to do with the character, (so this can go under story), has to do with the second female lead. She wasn’t really all that important in the end, and seemed to be there just to either push the two together, or break them apart. There was never any diving characterization of her character and at times I thought she was simply a figment of imagination, the ghost pulling the strings in the story plot.
Music: 6.5
The music is usually a hit or miss with me. For this one, it's in between. At times I thought it had the right instrumental background, at others, I wondered why the music was playing when silence would have been more beneficial. Knowing when to put in music and when not is a choice that most filmmakers make for a reason. I think in terms of music, this film didn’t quite hit the mark, but it wasn’t a great performance of the use of the art.
Rewatch Value: 1.5
This film isn’t really a happy go lucky, and if i were to rewatch it, I would skip the parts in between. For me, in my own opinion, this is one of those that you should see at least once, to get an idea of how talented the actors can be with not so good storyline.
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The story albeit confusing was beautiful. I did not read the manga prior to watching this, and now, I feel as though I should in order to see a better glimpse of the plot. In the two hours of screentime this movie had, I'm a bit disappointed that the story was rather unclear. Even so, the story was captivating from the beginning, making me want to keep watching to see what was going to happen next. I find that it was slow around the middle of the movie, and fast paced at the beginning and end. Even in those slow moments, I felt immersed. This one was a heart wrenching tear jerker overflowing with love. The assault that was depicted made it very difficult for me to watch, but I did regardless. If you are not comfortable seeing sexual harassment and a bit of gore, I recommend that you not watch this movie, as assault was a big part of what was shown.
The cast! I loved Masaki Suda's performance. He captured the melancholy of Kou well and he made me want to break down in tears myself seeing Kou breaking down. His light hair and slim build seemed to suit Kou. In Nana Komatsu's previous works, she generally plays either a submissive or a cold character. Here, she depicts Natsume who is driven. I think that she did a wonderful job portraying Natsume. I admittedly had a bit of second lead syndrome, but Masaki Suda truly won, in my heart, anyway.
The music and sound effects were totally top notch. A+! The music added a sense of realism to the movie and made me feel as though I was there, experiencing everything happening.
I'm not sure if I'd ever watch this movie again, but I feel as though I will at some point.
I enjoyed watching this movie. I was waiting for it for ages and when it finally came out, I was a little bit disappointed. Nonetheless, it was definitely not a waste of my time, and I am glad I watched it. It made my eyes leak for quite a while.
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Drowning Love
The story does a fantastic job of framing the game of pushing and pulling that follows Natsume's run-in with Koh. This game still has a lighthearted element, but it also subtly reveals that it is harmful because it involves playing with people's emotions. In addition to the humor, the story excels at capturing the childishness, possessiveness, and insecurity that falling in love results in. Note that Natsume requires Koh's presence. Although the first half of the story is obviously somewhat exaggerated.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I'm left with Questions...
First of all I don't normally wrote reviews.. But this one was so messed up I have to. Okay so.. for me to begin I debated on watching this movie after reading the mixed reviews.. But I am typically one that ends up deciding that I will watch it and for my own opinion.. Which I ultimately did. Now here are my thoughts..I feel the story could have been an interesting one.. I as I was watching I was left with more WTH is going on then with understanding.. I feel that there is so much missing from this it's not even funny.. I would have loved to see more interactions between the ML and FL.. what we get here leaves me empty. I was not even sad when they broke up. It's like they almost never had good dialogue between them. I was able to understand the relationship with the FL and the 2ML a lot better... There are quite a few repetitive scenes (flashback) that seem to be out of context. You are left guessing what just happened. Is the relationship between the ML and FL Toxic I can't truly determine that within the few scenes. There are issues for sure.. she is in love with him he likes her but after she is almost rapped his whole demeanor changes my guess is it's because he is angry he wasn't able to protect her.. but who knows. he becomes a bit colder towards her after that. She wants answers from him and At some point she must have been blind because she asked why he didn't fight him off of her hello... He got beat up... Now the ending What the heck was that?? She was attacked a 2nd time a I am just trying to figure out is this in her head or did it happen.. she's yelling at him to kill the guy.. okay I get it but at the same time what....??? Then final scene It's a scene from a movie the FL is in with another character on a bike and then the ML is there with her I am so freaking lost ...
The acting was decent.. I could tell their emotions.. But I wants drawn into feeling them almost side the actors. Now the camera angels have got me not wanting to watch this again. It reminded.me of something someone shot on their phone.. so many scenes shot at a distance then multiple scenes gave me a head ache with the camera shaking so much.. Not to mention so many scenes just linger ..
All in all this Movie has potential to be so much more and where it is it has fallen flat.. Definitely has amateur vibes. I will Not watch it again. But if you are looking for something.on the wired o meter that makes you want to puzzle everything together I would attempt to watch this one.. if you are looking for a solid story like that is understandable you are at the wrong place.
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Drowning Love is pretentious (geez, even the title is) yet has a beauty to it. The cinematography and tone will take your breath away. Very dreamy and atmospheric. If a teen girl's Pinterest board could be captured on film this would be it, with a hodge podge of moody dreamscape palletes to feast the eyes on. Suda and Nana have never looked better than they do here, equal parts alluring and mysterious. I'd say Drowning Love is the more palpable version of Hot Gimmick. It's a hot mess and trash but beautiful trash.
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Don’t be put off by people saying it’s confusing.
Don’t be put off by the other reviews. Go for it, and watch this. It’s an amazing movie and will totally put you in the feels. Amazing acting, and amazing scenes. Strangely nostalgic and shows a passionate but short lived and messy romance. The ending is sad, but somehow comforting. Overall think that this movie shows good things don’t last forever. Also shows the female leads struggles with fame and her changing lifestyle, and the boys almost opposite free spirit and deep sense of longing to protect her. Acting is amazing, from both mains and you’ll definitely love this movie. also, search ‘million dollar man drowning love’ amazing video. million dollar man fits this movie perfectly, such an amazing song. if you want to decide whether to watch this or not, watch that video. it has some scenes. Have fun watching drowning love!Was this review helpful to you?
The music, I am obsessed. There is this one song that is played a few times during the movie, it's called ' Kou wo oikakete' and since I have watched the movie I can't stop listening to it. So the ost is good in my opinion.
Overal it was a pretty good movie.
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I may be a little biased by the acting of Suda Masaki and Nana Komatsu, but I don't think it was just that haha.
Also, the scenery was really beautiful and the way it was captured really refreshing, making me want to go back and watch it again.
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Amazing film
This film is one of my favourite films the story line is amazing played out until the end. The more you watch the more you start to understand and the story makes sense.I don’t really know how to explain how this film made me feel without spoiling it all I can say is I would definitely rewatch this for the 7th time :)
And the camera skills are very good and the Director that directored this also directored hot gimmick girl meets boy and the layout of that film is amazing the camera skills where the best I’ve seen in a movie.
Sorry for the long review I need to do 500 characters so I can’t keep it short and sweet :( but if you do end up watching this I hope you enjoy it was more as I did :)
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That is not a spoiler and you need to watch it to understand it. I don't think any other actress could portray this role as this girl did. Nana had that innocence, passion and honesty of feelings - everything was expressed well. She is one of the few actresses in Asian dramas whom I like for her acting and expressing the character so beautifully without making us feel any artificiality.
Loved the chemistry between Koh Chan and Natsume. Ohtomo and Kana did their part very well too. t is a good movie for a lazy afternoon. Loved it.
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