Chasuke's Journey (2015)

Definitely not your typical romance-fantasy. I'm glad still give this movie a try despite the rating is so low.
You need special perspective to understand this movie. Well it's not that hard to follow the story tho. But if you already feel uncomfortable with the setting heaven-earth love story then you will never find the enjoyment and how good this movie is. This movie rich with stories, there are some theatrical scene but it's okay just follow it.

This movie using narration method, and it's Chasuke himself. He tells his own story and feeling. The narration portion is good enough, not too much, only when this movie need to pin point each character, so it's easy to follow the whole story. I like how this movie explain each character clearly.

Since those character were made by the screenwriter in the heaven, they're unique and different. Chasuke himself sometimes feel annoyed when he found a human with unlucky and tragic destiny (he knows some of those people history and the writer who write them). Luckily, Chasuke has a super power that can control movement, mind control and healing power, because basically he's not human. WIth this power, he try to heal sick people. Then people called him as an angel, and oh that wing! Chasuke accidentally took it somewhere and just keep wear it whenever & wherever. Yes that wing in the poster is a fake wing not a CG nor Chasuke in angel form, lol.

While he lives in earth, he involved in fighting with Yakuza, from there he found his own background and his real identity in the earth. This part is really interesting and unpredictable. So the whole story is not only about his love story. I think the love story in this movie is only basic story to reveal other stories.

Even though this movie classified as fantasy genre, it doesn't using unnecessary CG effects, there is some but not that bold, it's just simple and nice. It's pure drama.

In the end, I believe that this movie wants to tell that we can change our destiny with strong will, keep praying and never give up, well something like that. :D

PS:
I like the soundtrack, if you do but you don't know who and what the tittle is, then I'll give you the answer.
It's called "?/Tsubasa/Wing" by Ms MOOJA.
When I check it out, it turns out that the whole album has the same nice feeling with this soundtrack. I feel lucky to find such good songs. :D

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the winged man and his wingmen

if you're like me and you were interested in this movie because you wanted to watch a matsuyama kenichi in love, i am happy to report that the concept is indeed as adorkable as it sounds. however, those the romcom elements do not start until literally 46 minutes into the 1 hr 45 min long movie, and they unfortunately don't stay for long. romance is the premise but not the point of this journey. these first 46 minutes are also straight full of matsuyama acting his pants off, and then you realise exactly Why he was hired 1hr 3mins into the film, so fans of his that understand his modus operandi will still find something to enjoy while watching even if you were romcom baited like me.

the entire movie had very noir-esque vibes with WAY more gore than i was anticipating for a movie branded as a fantasy romance. this gritty quality ends up being plot relevant later; and to complement them, the cinematography strangely also /looked/ humid??? besides the light, casual, summery costumes, almost all of the earth-based scenes take place in an okinawan shopping arcade, and there were hundreds of extras and constant parades of traditional okinawan performing groups. the movie was very visually busy and had a very cramped vibe, like these people were wayyy too close together and they couldn't tell if the sweat on their bodies were theirs or someone else's. imagine a baz lurhmann film shot on super 8 whose cartridge has been lost on a beach for three years, that's what this movie looked and felt like. it was impressively visceral but VERY asynchronous with the fantasy romance genre.

the patchwork nature of the story was unique and Might have worked in a 30 min tv show format, but in a movie it is not fun or quirky. it creates terribly awkward pacing and the effect of really lazy storytelling. honestly the whole movie kind of felt like it was different people's half-baked story premises that couldn't hack it as their own movies, so they were frankenstein'ed into one movie instead. (it's ironic that chasuke is constantly slamming his heavenly peers for their shitty 'screenwriting' when i very much am doing the same about this movie xD) i can confidently say this is not a movie i've ever seen before, but i also can't help but feel that that's on purpose

[SPOILER] the ending was TENSE and almost made the entire weird movie worth it if only it were executed better. it was resolved in a deus ex machina that i honestly wouldn't have minded because it could have been an excellent tongue-in-cheek reference if not for the extreme lack of payoff. unfortunately, i did not care about the characters' happy ending because i was not ever led to believe they wouldn't get it. [END SPOILER]

all in all, though, i think i'd rate the film higher if only it were marketed as a fantasy drama instead. my expectations were set in a certain direction, and since they weren't fulfilled, i'm rather disappointed. HOWEVER, i did enjoy myself and can acknowledge the movie for fully committing to the things it did well: maximalism, novelty, and matsuyama kenichi being Fucking Weird (complimentary).

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