Hot Gimmick (2019)

I still have no idea what the plot of this movie was meant to be and the weird camera angles/effects that were constantly changing every second made it really hard to watch. Even with all the breaks in dialogue being cut out (which made their conversations really unnatural and annoying to listen to since it was really quick dialogue with legit no pauses/brakes to even breath) the movie still managed to be 2 hours long with no story line? I was really hoping at some point the movie would start making even just a little bit of sense. Yeah spoilers it didn’t. I really wish I hadn’t wasted 2 hours of my life on this but what r u gonna do :/

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the only reason i watched this was because i wanted to see if it was as bad as everyone was saying. and yes, it is.

i have not read the manga so i can’t compare.

the plot is cliche and overused, the execution of the story made it hard to follow and nothing made any sense. i couldn’t understand why any of the characters did any of the things they did, and nothing got explained in the whole 2 hours. the female lead is your typical damsel in distress who can’t seem to speak up for herself and has no idea what’s going on half the time (a bit like me throughout the whole movie) and the male lead is just a toxic asshole who has no respect for the girl yet claims he loves her. none of the guys in this movie has any respect for women and are just trash. and then more characters kept getting introduced and i had no idea who they were or what their role was. it was a mess.

the editing and cinematography was nice but nothing special in my opinion. although it was artsy and unique it made it hard to watch and keep up with things. everything was so fast paced with all the different cuts and angles, it was starting to give me a headache.

if you want a movie about characters who have no respect for females or themselves, do things with no explanation, cry with no explanation and seem confused half the time then hell yeah give it a go. if you want a movie that’s worth watching, then find something else to do for 2 hours

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It 's like listening to unsolicited advice from a distant relative for 2 hours and not being able to answer back. The main characters spoke the same way as if it was a 2 hour monologue with different voices and faces. I loved the manga and I wanted to re-read the manga before watching this but I was too excited and watched the movie. I think they choose the wrong story for the edgy style of cinematography they used. It felt a little forced, would have loved to see the film style on Ai Yazawa stories instead or a Bakemonogatari live action in this style if that's even possible.

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A weird, bad, but fascinating movie

Usually when I give shows middling scores, it's because they're boring. They get mired in cliches, the drama is drawn out too much, everything is just average and forgettable. Hot Gimmick is a lot of things, but boring? Heck no. I don't even write reviews much, but I just had to for this one because I'm still trying to understand what I just watched. It was a mess, but an interesting mess.

Story: 6/10
I don't know whose idea it was to make Hot Gimmick a movie rather than an anime or drama, but it was a terrible one. The manga it's based on is 12 volumes. They try to pack the entire story into 2 hours and the pace is INSANE as a result. Twists get revealed constantly and emotions go from 0 to 100 and back again in just minutes. This really should've been a 12-16 ep drama. As it is, characters just instantly have these strong conflicts when you're still trying to get oriented with their basic relationships.

For the plot itself, you don't see stuff like this explored often in East Asian dramas. Usually, mature topics are limited to stories with adult characters, but Hot Gimmick is frank in its discussion on teenage sexuality. It's pretty true to how my friends and I talked about sex as teens. At times, this feels realistic, but then some of the story beats are so nuts that it creates this cognitive dissonance between relatability and fantasy. It's off-putting, but well, it isn't boring.

Characters: 5/10
Because of the runtime, there's little space for characters to grow. They fall into two-dimensional cliches: the dumb naive heroine (Hatsumi), the arrogant asshole genius (Ryoki), the kind protective onii-san (Shinogu), and the charming flirty childhood friend/model (Azusa). Each of these characters has a second, darker side that gets revealed over the course of the movie, but it serves as shock value more than thoughtful character development. This is where the movie format is especially limiting, because these characters touch on interesting themes. There's so much spoiled potential here. Azusa, in particular, has deep pain that the movie throws out there and then promptly gathers back up for the sake of a tidy ending.

While each of the three guys are troubled in their own ways (to say the least), I have to give special mention to Ryoki. His abuse of Hatsumi is constant in the manga as well, but seeing it play out in live action is even more uncomfortable. It eases up in the second half, but that only reinforces the old fantasy of the abusive man who really loves you and can change for the better for you (while still calling you a slut when he gets mad). I wish he was mean in a more interesting way, at least. Characters like Ryoki were more common 10 years ago when the manga was running, and that's for the better.

Acting: 7/10
Like with everything else, I have mixed feelings on the acting. Shimizu Hiroya is the weak link for me, though I have sympathy for him considering the material. He mostly shouts and stews in anger, but because Ryoki is also supposed to be cold, Shimizu's delivery is empty and wooden. He did quite well during the one vulnerable scene. Hori Miona does as well as can be expected from such a meek character. Itagaki Mizuki's full emotional spectrum is the most convincing of the cast (though unfortunately, that hairstyle and color is terribly unflattering on him). Mamiya Shotaro struggles to convey the suppressed inner side of Shinogu's emotions, but it's a tall order to fit that kind of subtlety into such a frantic movie. I WANT to feel for Shinogu more than I actually feel for him.

Cinematography: 4/10
I wish I had enough filming education to fully describe the directing and editing choices, because they're nuts. Dark scenes are so dark you can barely even see the actors' faces, so good luck reading their emotions. In an effort to cram in as much dialogue as possible (I'm assuming), a lot of the breathing room between lines is cut out. If it was done once it could convey the emotions of an overwhelming, stifling moment, but the barrage is frequent. These are simple problems that make the movie hard to watch. If you can't see what's going on, if they're talking too fast to follow, you get confused. It's that simple.

But then there are the stylistic choices, too. You won't see simple shot/reverse shot scenes, that's for sure. The camera is moving 99% of the time, even if it's subtle. Sometimes the shots constantly cut back and forth. Sometimes it zooms way out to the background or way in to parts of their face for no discernable reason. The movie randomly becomes monochrome for its final minute. Why? There must be artistic meaning in there, but the cinematography fits a small-time indie production better than an adaptation of a mainstream romance manga. There's a reason the shot/reverse shot style is ubiquitous: it works. It doesn't distract from the story the way Hot Gimmick does. But is unmitigated chaos really worse than boring? Probably, but I have to give props for at least trying to make something interesting.

Music: 3/10
Again: WEIRD. The soundtrack features odd remixes of Pachelbel's Canon and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, among other classical tunes. They don't do anything interesting with them. They're slow and stripped back and sound like they were made on the cheap, as does the other music. It all gives off royalty free vibes. The classical music here is going to be familiar to any Western viewer, and it takes you out of the moment. You'll try to remember the name of that song and think about all the other times you've heard it. Maybe there's artistic merit here too, but I don't hear it in the original instrumentals either. I just hear cost-cutting. Boo.

Replay Value: 8/10
I gave the movie high marks on replay value because you're going to have to watch it twice to understand what's going on, especially if you haven't read the manga. And honestly, this could be good inspiration for aspiring writers who want to explore the movie's themes or filmmakers to study the unusual techniques. It teaches you a lot on what to do and what not to do.

Hot Gimmick is both more and less than the sum of its parts. It's a pretty bad movie from most angles. I can't say I enjoyed watching any part of it. You'd think that would make it a 3/10. But still, the artist in me really appreciates what they tried to do (even if I don't understand what exactly that was). They took risks and made something unique- a true rarity in the romance genre. If I had to choose between re-watching Hot Gimmick and any other drama I rated 6/10, I would choose this in a heartbeat. Not any time soon, though. My head still hurts from this go.

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FUCK NETFLIX!!

FUCK NETFLIX FOR RUINING MY MORNING WITH THIS MOVIE!! MY SISTER HAS BEEN SCREAMING HER HEAD OFF FOR 30 MINUTES NOW AFTER WATCHING THIS TERRIBLENESS!! GAVE THIS MOVIE A 10 FOR ACTING CAUSE THEY REALLY MADE ME HATE THE CHARACTERS. I hate my life and I'm going to go watch 20th century girl now or a thai show or k-pop or ANYTHING ELSE!!!

Just to take up space I'm going to name other shows I'd rather watch over this because I'm not spending another second giving this movie time:
- I'd rather watch Love Alarm Season 2
- I'd rather watch Boys over flowers
- I'd rather watch TharnType
- I'd rather listen to Sticker by NCT on repeat
- I'd rather listen to O.O and Tank by NMIXX on repeat
- I'd rather listen to War of Hormones by BTS

Okay I think I'm done for today. The only thing I remotely enjoyed about this movie is that the orange hair guy is pretty and I could sense the effort and how it was trying to be something great, even though it flopped. Don't listen to people on this site. The cinematography is terrible!!! TOOOOO ANY CUTS FOR MY LIKING!!! Why we gotta zoom in on people's eyes and lips to be artistic!! You know what, I'm done. Actually, one last thing. They gloss over the most problematic things that it makes me think that they possibly just forgot that they wrote the bad things they made the characters do and say. I watched this movie on max speed and still understood everything, but was left confused on what the point of it all was. Only gave this movie a three because it made me appreciate somethings I used to hate more because now when I hate something I'm just going to say, "Yea this was bad, but it's not worse than 'Hot Gimmick'."

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well..

This movie is very interesting to say the least ? I've watched it a couple times but only to show it to different friends and show them the bad wigs and crazy characters, but the more times I watched it the more I understood what was happening. Its overall an okay movie, definitely not award winning, but okay. I think the three "love interest" are all bad lol, I mean, one CONSTANTLY belittles her, another drugs her, and the last is her step brother. it's all very odd, and the first time I watched it I thought the best option was her brother, because all of the other ones were just so bad, but now I think she shouldnt have gotten with any of them. who she picks in the end is just... not it lol. I didnt like the whole ending scene, it was long and drawn out. it was a weird movie, I mean, if you like weird definitely watch it lol

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No me maten, pero a mí me gustó mucho jaja.

La historia gira en torno a Hatsumi, una adolescente muy linda que tiene problemas de autoestima. Ella vive en un complejo de apartamentos junto a sus padres y hermanos, llevando una vida tranquila. Las cosas se complican cuando uno de sus amigos de la infancia vuelve al edificio y uno de sus vecinos, que está enamorado de ella, comienza a chantajearla para que haga todo lo que le pide.

Okay, para empezar quiero dejar en claro que la película me gustó, pero aun así entiendo de dónde vienen todos los comentarios negativos que tiene, y es por eso que no le recomendaría Hot Gimmick a cualquiera.

Estas son las cosas que tienen que tener en cuenta antes de verla:

•No es una peli para ver cuando no tenés ganas de prestarle atención a algo. La trama se desarrolla a través de fragmentos de historia súper frenéticos que no te dan un respiro. No es difícil seguir lo que va pasando, pero hay que estar atento a todo. ¿Puede que esto sea porque lo que había para contar era mucho y tenían que apurar? Puede ser, pero creemos que la forma en la que está construida la historia ayuda a que ver la película sea una experiencia.
•Al menos para mí, no hay que tomarse todo lo que pasa muy literal. Llega un punto en el que uno se queda en plan "no tengo ni idea de para dónde va esto" y la realidad es que toda la película lo que busca es dejar un mensaje, nada más (y, dentro de todo, lo logra). ¿El mensaje vale la pena después de tanto bardo? Y... podrían haberse complicado menos la vida, qué sé yo, pero sostengo que vale la pena por la experiencia que es verla jaja.
•Es bastante turbia y te pone muy nervioso, sobre todo por las tomas, los colores y los ángulos que usan. Imposible no quedarse en plan "okaaay, miedo" en más de una ocasión. También tiene personajes dañados como protagonistas, lo que provoca que haya escenas "cuestionables".

Para cerrar me queda decir que los actores son muy buenos y que la música acompaña bien todo. 10/10 por ese lado jaja.

IG de reseñas cortas: @altoplottwist

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What. Was. That.

There are people claiming it's a cinematic masterpiece. I'm sorry, swinging the camera around is not art? I do not know what was trying to be achieved. I felt violated watching this movie. I don't exactly know why

It has a strange, powerless protagonist getting played around with three different men. She doesn't even seem like a real character. The whole arc is cheap and the execution is even worse. The guys were all red flags, toxic and disturbing. The whole vibe was off. I don't even know what exactly happens in the end and I don't think I care, to be honest.

If you want to watch something which leaves you ''????" go ahead.

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Read the manga synopsis

Protip: if you want to even remotely not be slapped in the face by this movie, read the wikipedia synopsis & characters for the manga Hot Gimmick. It will give you enough context to stomach this movie. You get a general sense for why everyone is so tragically messed up af.

Ngl, I only watched this movie bc of Mizuki Itagaki (orange hair guy). I would not watch it again. I cringed a lot. But at least I wasn't as horrified as I would have been without the context of the manga. You understand a bit more of reasons for why each of the MLs are so toxic bc they themselves were traumatized. This is not a healing movie. More like "here's how effed up lives become but they kinda end up ok maybe?"

Idk, I don't think the extra time I got to spend watching Mizuki Itagaki was worth it. If you must watch this movie, try reading up on the manga by the actual books themselves or just the wiki synopsis.

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Stinks

I didn't have a hard time following the story because I read the manga a long long time ago so I had an idea where it was going, this doesn't change from the fact that this: sucked ass.

I don't remember if I even liked the manga to begin with, but oh my...this..this stinks.

People are really writing essays on this when really, this drama doesn't even require two working brain cells to understand the message. Because in actuality there's nothing powerful or inspirational about it. On the contrary, the narrative is soooo vapid, toxic and frankly very immature. This has as much depth as a an angsty wattpad book written by a 14 yr old. Also, all characters are deeply unpleasant. And don't get me started on the cinematography, nothing impressive just cringy superficial shots with no intention behind them.

If this is art to you, I beg you to widen your horizon.

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hot gimmick? more like hot mess.

note- contains incest and toxic relationships. It is very choppy when it comes to both storyline and cinematography. Any character development just isn't explored. The soundtrack is laughable and I wonder how anyone can take this film seriously. The ending was dramatic but everything in between was confusing with many plot holes. My only praise goes to the actors (as they were actually quite good and managed to stay in character whilst filming some questionable scenes) and the person in charge of lighting ( the constant dark blue tint did add to the atmosphere of the setting).

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