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Monster (2023)
9/10
Simplified and easy to understand for everybody, how LGBTq were like when they were kids
9 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
One of the best films I've seen so far this year! The two boys are poetic and beautiful, and Ryuichi Sakamoto's music is a perfect match, which played the folds of the two boy's hearts brought tears to my eyes. Anything I write will be a spoiler, so here are some spoilers.

Spoiler alert from here!!!

It's a mystery from many angles. In part 1, the mother seems to be a loving mother, but in part 2, from a different point of view, she is a so-called "Monster parent" - a term of Japanese origin that- refers to parents who are overprotective of their children and make a lot of demands of their children's school. In the scene where she is concerned that her son might have jumped off the balcony because he is troubled. The part where she approaches the balcony saying, "Oh no, oh no, don't do that." She always suspects that his son is going to commit suicide. However, she is out of touch with the underlying concerns and has stopped thinking, assuming that the target is something she actually can see, the teacher.

His homeroom teacher at elementary school (Eita) was not evil at all, he was an enthusiastic, sincere teacher who cared students so much. He simply has too much skepticism in the atmosphere he creates, and because he is honest and defenseless, it is easy to make him out to be a bad guy. His girlfriend would pack up her things and leave immediately.... When the media broadcasted the teacher's wrongdoing(but that is not true). I know this. In this day and age, it seems that you should never get involved with an "honest person" who is a bit suspicious and once labeled as evil, you should never get involved with them. But in fact, all the adults except the homeroom teacher played by Eita were assholes. This is the fact of the age we are living today. It describes the society we live today.

My husband, who watched the film with me, complained about inconsistencies. For example, at the end, the mother and homeroom teacher go looking for the two missing children during a typhoon, but the last scene shows them running in the grass on a sunny day. That could be taken to mean that they were never found. My husband was not satisfied with that, but that's okay. Typhoon" is a metaphorical expression that expresses the two children's readiness to face the harsh reality that is about to befall them, and the mother and teacher who went looking for them are the only adults who will continue to understand and love the boys, and the fact that two adults "went looking" for them expresses this (and the fact that the two, who had been enemies, cooperate in the search is at the very least a sign that the two children's future is not bleak).

Sure, at the classroom, the girls were helpful, but for some macho boys because he was strange, probably, a gay. Hoshikawa-kun is a "non-human" monster? What the heck. This can happen in any community, even as time goes on, because there is a certain group of people that will never accept different people. But who is the real monster? This is the simple theme of this film, and it is structured in a way that anyone can understand. Finally, the principal of the school, the old lady, Yuko Tanaka's performance was unforgettable. This film even puts in the redemption of elderly drivers! Everything is jumbled together into one film, but it's a great work, simplified and easy to understand for almost everybody can imagine, how the LGBTq people were when they were children. Ant those who never consider this issue, would come to the theater!

*Later noticed...Ahhhh, the last scene can be interpreted that they are not alive and they are running in the meadow in heaven...I see. That's also possible.
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Pearl (2022)
7/10
Sticky sensation of skin from the sight
7 July 2023
It's creepy as hell (I think. I don't usually watch horror films, but I think this is more of a psychopathic film). The way Pearl talks, her mouth opens, etc., bothered me from the beginning, but it's hard to explain, the indescribable feeling of discomfort. Her smile, her emotions change in seconds, she has almost no eyebrows, but one of her eyebrows is constantly raised by her muscles, her expression is indescribable, her desperate, innocent and sickly side is very scary (but for some reason I also sympathize with her). I feel as if something sticky and gooey has stuck to my body and I can't get it off, and it's still there. I wonder if it's that HSP, or her super sensitivity made her act like that. And then there's that overly conservative home life and the German language, which somehow come together to make me feel uncomfortable. Breathing...nonono but overall, it was entirely different movie that gave me a sticky sensation of skin from the sight. ...Great movie...
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7/10
Ideal film to get an idea of what the Witch Trials and Inquisition were like.
2 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Torture and inquisitions are held for three suspects: a hunchback heretic, a woman who is assumed to be a witch and a man who is not an orthodox Christian.

Those murder suspects are tortured and sent to the council. The bishop unilaterally convicts them. Brother William, knowing that there are other culprits, obeys the bishop and points out the essence of the crime, including "the sin of misunderstanding the meaning of the Gospel" and "the sin of confusing poverty and love."

The medieval time atmosphere is clearly illustrated. The master, Bros. Williams, Sean Connery, and his apprentice, Christian Slater, were the best team who gave absolute awareness to those who believed in biased beliefs that witches and heretics are the sources of all the problems.
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