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Post by sgev1977 on Sept 3, 2019 13:34:11 GMT
I haven't watched anything directed by him but it seems his work until now has been very well-received. I found this old interview and here he is mentioning some of his influences. www.indiewire.com/2012/03/futures-bafta-nominated-black-pond-directing-duo-will-sharpe-and-tom-kingsley-48425/A quirky film á la Hal Ashby would be great! I have some hopes that this won't a typical bio (nothing against them! I consider myself a cinephile but I'm not a Twitter's film fanboy who loves awful blockbusters meanwhile it's cynical about conventional movies made for adult audiences! Most of them aren't great art but they can be entertaining!) Both Patrick Melorse producers and Flower creative team were acclaimed for their realistic portrait of mental helth issues so I hope it goes beyond of the nice British little film!
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Post by MagdaFR on May 10, 2020 15:05:39 GMT
I've been watching Giri/Haji a drama/thriller set in Tokyo and London. Will Sharpe acts in it and is very good.
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Post by sgev1977 on May 10, 2020 16:38:05 GMT
I never finished it!
I loved Sharpe. Everybody did but I wasn't sure about the series as a whole! I should finish it!
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Post by MagdaFR on May 10, 2020 17:23:18 GMT
Well, I'm forcing myself to finish it.
It is a bit slow, and there are parts that look, at least at the moment, not too relevant. I had read so many compliments on the show that I was expecting liking it more than I do.
Sharpe is really, really good and I like Takehiro Hira too.
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Post by MagdaFR on May 10, 2020 22:11:16 GMT
Finished it and think that it was a mess. Haha. So promising.
I liked the recaps and some visual and narrative choices.
Almost an entire episode focused on Sarah's story was boring to me.
Will Sharpe's Rodney was very interesting but what was really the point with him being so much in the story?
The girl was annoying and although I have no problem with representation was it necessary her to be lesbian when there was already a homosexual?
The dance scene made me laugh. They praised it in many reviews but for me it was just ridiculous. I suppose I didn't have an emotional relationship with the show.
They were all so awful -except the ladies in Japan- that I didn't care for any of them.
And my impression is that we should care for Yuto, for instance. Come on! We know nothing about him, we just know that he was a thief, a murderer and only because the girlfrend said so do we have to believe that he wasn't like any other mobster?
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Post by sgev1977 on May 11, 2020 23:57:11 GMT
That's the impression I had: that it was a mess! I stopped when they suddenly introduced a bunch of new characters that I felt I didn't cared too much for! But again, I never finished it so I shouldn't give any opinion. The beginning was indeed promising!
A lot of people seemed to like it on social media, tho.!
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Post by sgev1977 on Jul 31, 2020 20:48:29 GMT
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Post by sgev1977 on Jul 31, 2020 21:00:27 GMT
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Post by roverpup on Aug 29, 2020 16:34:56 GMT
We are just about done watching Giri/Haji.
I didn't find it a mess at all. Both of us really liked it.
All the characters are interesting, well rounded, and flawed but questioning of their actions enough to exhibit a sense of morality. I like dramas that present the characters in this fashion. It reflects how real people are - neither total heroes nor total villains.
I also like that the show deployed a variety of parallel stories and I especially liked the rapid transitions between the Japanese and UK stories. It was surprising how easy it was to immediately see the change of locations. The subtle clues made you pay attention. And I also loved how they differentiated between the flashbacks and the present.
Having been to Japan I loved the unromanticised view of Japan. It felt like you were actually there and not in some writer's trope-ridden vision of what a tourist would think Japan would be like. And yet it still rang true to to the cultural differences that makes Japan so uniquely distinctive from the west. You can't be in Japan ANY length of time and not notice these variances. And this series weaves these aspects seamlessly into the fabric of this series while also showing the many similarities all societies have in this modern technological "small world".
The acting is uniformly excellent. I can't think of a weak link in any of the cast. Loved seeing Will Sharpe in such a different role from his Flowers role and he is so convincing in both! And seeing Kelly Macdonald (from TCiT) in this show was delightful. Another familiar face is Tony Way in the minor role of Roy. Most recently I've seen him in After Life but he was in Sherlock too.
There is such chemistry between the three female actors in the plot line of the mother, daughter-in-law and the girlfriend (Togo Igawa, Yūko Nakamura andAnna Sawai). As well, there's real brotherly vibes between lead actor Takehiro Hira and Yōsuke Kubozuka even though the characters are so disparate in almost every respect.
The camera work is innovative and suits the story. I love the wipes, the multiple screen aspects, and the seamless contrasting views of phone conversations between characters. One minor complaint - sometimes the music is too loud.
With just one episode to go I can't imagine my opinion changing to any great degree (but of course, one never knows with complete 100% confidence until after we see the final episode!). We've enjoy this show thoroughly as it examines duty and shame from many different angles and divergent viewpoints, cultures, personalities and points in times.
Edit: so we finally saw the ending episode! Loved it! Especially the dance sequence. So ethereal and yet such a powerful statement of the emotional core of the series. And I liked the open tenderness of the episode. Nothing is written but you can imagine your own personal perception. Mine ranged from hopeful to bittersweet. Glad to see Roy again.
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Post by sgev1977 on Sept 30, 2020 13:31:56 GMT
I haven't watched Flowers yet. It's not available in this part of the world! But I found this nice video review of the series,
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