I did find it odd however that they put the main character in one relationship for most of the movie and then have it not work out and she ends up with someone else....Although I did like both Male characters I felt the transition could have been better.
Overall I really enjoyed this movie and I recommend it to anyone.
Happy Watching :)
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The characters were interesting and I liked who Naomi ended up with. I saw that coming from the very beginning. Okay, somewhat irrelevant but I was liking Maki's longer hair till she cut it off and went back to her own short hair. LOL. I thought she looked cuter with longer locks.
I was excited when I saw Emma Roberts in it. I thought she should have been given a bigger role (yeah, I remember this is a Japanese movie). The English being spoken was awkward and funny. The narration of the whole story is a fun ride.
I loved the soundtrack of this movie. It has some great tracks which doesn't let you get bored. The film got dragged in some parts, but the cinematography was pretty decent.
Overall it is a likable movie. I was worried about tragedy occuring because we have a 'dark' character in it but it was happy all the way. I liked the end, by the way.
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Story: The story is like the synopsis says, a girl, Naomi, loses her memory of the past 5 years. For the first theird of the story she is lost trying to figure out who she is and what her life was like before. For the second third, she seems to not care about who she was because she had changed and she liked who she was now and not before. For the third half, it seems like she was split between her old and new self. So yea the story was a bit confusing. I feel like there was no smooth transition of events. It didn't flow well for me. I get that this is supposed be one of those deeper emotional think-hard movies, and I usually get those, but with this movie I just ended up confused and a bit upset about the ending. There was no real wrap-up of the story, I get that the ending is supposed to indicate that she decided to be with Mirai and that they were perfect for each other since the beginning, but there is no sense of closure for any of the characters. I still want to know what the heck happened to them in between the time frame of the movie. That's another problem, they tried to fit a whole year's worth of events in one movie. They way they handled made it seems mashed and mixed together. I still don't know why she and Yuji broke up. I know that he had told her to forget him if he goes crazy, but did he go crazy? Because at the end he seemed pretty normal to me. Also, she promised Yuji that she wouldn't leave him even if he went crazy. There is no real explanation of why they broke up or how they fell out of love. It just happened... What I liked though was the concept of the story, and the setting. I thought the whole going to an Japanese American school thing was cool, although it didn't really fit into the story well. There was no main purpose of the American aspect other than to get the Hollywood actors, like Emma Roberts, in this movie. This story would be the same with or without the American characters and in a all-Japanese high school.
Acting: The acting was ok. But some of the American actors, Ace especially, seemed a bit out of place among the Japanese actors. Also some of the Japanese actors seemed a bit forced when speaking English, especially Mirai. The best acting in my opinion was during the Yuji and Naomi scenes. Even those were a bit forced at times as well, especially the beach scene.
Music: I loved the music. Great music choices, in fact I'm going to look up the OST right now so I can get some of the songs.
Rewatch: I don't think I'll watch this headache of a movie again.
Overall: I liked the concept and idea, however the producers failed to take what could have been a great story and made it into a jumbled mess of a movie like this. Not having read the book, I feel that this story was just all over the place. It had a great meaning to it, You're never really who you think you are, People change. High School is just a memory that fades away. But it just got lost somehow in between when Naomi was choosing between all the boys she had fawning over her. When her dad explained the whole I forget High School and all the things I did as a kid, I was like oh so that was the point of this story. I had to think for 10 minutes about how this story fit with that theme. I gave it a seven because I really liked the Yuji story line and I liked Naomi's dad, but that's all I'll ever really remember of the story.
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The overall story line was really cute. There were interesting bits of cinematography scattered throughout. The chemistry between Matsuyama Kenichi and Horikita Maki seemed so tangible, and at times frightening. I loved the relationship between father (Watabe Atsuro) and daughter as well.
Now to the bad, there seemed to be a big disconnect between the "foreign stars" and the Japanese cast. I felt like the scenes with Anton Yelchin and Emma Roberts were forced, and I HATED how some scenes the Japanese cast seemed to be dubbed over. I'm okay with a little "Engrish", I prefer that to robot English. I would literally cringe.
That being said, I also hated/appreciated how much English was spoken. At times, the English was really awkward. Particularly the parts of Yuya and Kenichi, but I was happy they were dubbed. Bittersweet...?
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. It had me looking up the soundtrack, director and the author. I would definitely recommend to watch this, even if it's to laugh at the ridiculous English dubbing.
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This review may contain spoilers
Spoiler : + adopted from a book with same title by Zevin
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac,” as Zevin explains on the first page/( line in case of movie) is, above all, “a love story. And like most love stories, this one involves chance, gravity, a dash of head trauma.” Naomi must choose among three guys who represent different visions of love: Ace, a handsome tennis jock who offers her a seat at the popular table; James/ Yuji , a brooding misfit who sports suicide scars and offers an alternative to the life she finds so alienating; and devoted Will/ Mirai , her best friend and fellow yearbook nerd, the one best positioned to offer her the real Naomi.By having Naomi lose her memory all at once rather than little by little, Zevin highlights the role forgetting plays in shaping a life. “Dad nodded and patted me on the hand, and then he read my mind. ‘You forget all of it anyway. First, you forget everything you learned — the dates of the Hay-Herran Treaty and the Pythagorean theorem. You especially forget everything you didn’t really learn, but just memorized the night before. You forget the names of all but one or two of your teachers, and eventually you’ll forget those, too. You forget your junior-year class schedule and where you used to sit and your best friend’s home phone number. ... You forget all of them. Even the ones you said you loved, and even the ones you actually did. They’re the last to go. And then once you’ve forgotten enough, you love someone else.’”
PS : the ending in movie was too rushed , and Yes At last Naomi chooses to go with her bestfriend Mirai as her Lover.
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WOW! When I saw this movie was added to DC today…it literally made my day!
The movie I’ve been waiting like forever is now here!
This movie was something too awesome. I didn’t expect a half American half Japanese movie to be this good! The ending song was awesome. This movie has Horikita Maki, my favorite actress, Matsuyama Kenichi, one of the best actors in the world, AND Tegoshi Yuya, one of my favorite JE members.
This movie made me cry and laugh through the whole movie. This was one of the best movies I’ve seen so far. I really recommend this to everyone..
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When the story started to get going I really enjoyed it! When I saw Emma Roberts I was suprised because I love her, I didn't look at the cast.
Naomi's character confused me, I get having a concussion and having to rebuild memories but I didn't get her character at the end? A bump to the head made her become a new person? I have no clue ha.
Yuji's character really resonated with me, I didn't really know what he was thinking most of the time and why he acted strangely at some points? When I realised it was depression I knew I'd have a deep connection to his portrayal. That's why I think they should add a mental health label above. The scene of Naomi kissing his scars made me cry as well for personal reasons.
The music was enjoyable as well, them being in English was understandable as they go to a Japanese-American school, I think that in its self is a unique thing.
Overall, the story made an impact on me. I have no clue why it was rated so low.
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Now on to the film.
The movie is about Susuke Naomi who incurred an amnesia through an unfortunate incident. She fell down the stairs to save a camera but in the process hit her head on the ground and lost memory of four years in her life. When she woke up, she didn't know that she was in high school, has a jerk for a boy friend named Ace and that she was in a year book with her best friend Mirai. Most of all, she was helped during her accident by a guy named Yui whom she never really talked to. He's like that dark ominous figure in the school who was one year older than her.
A lot of things happened to her, like finding out the real her, doing things she had never done before and maturing all through it in the process.
The film was really beautiful especially when you see it in the eyes of Naomi. The cinematography was gorgeous and the production was well done. The story line was not that perfect, but the scenes executed by the actors were really good that you wouldn't mind the other boring parts of it and have I mentioned the cinematography? Again… it made up for everything even if the actors didn't.
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