My Broken Mariko (2022)

heartbreaking, yet beautiful

This has to be one of the most underrated films of 2022.

The director, Tanada Yuki, did a fantastic job portraying the ups and downs of life through gorgeous scenery and profound dialogue. At times, the pacing felt a bit slow, and some of the scenes seemed to drag slightly, but it did an effective job of creating an emotional experience for the viewer. This film touches on issues of mental illness, various forms of familial and relationship abuse, and toxic work culture. Certain scenes contained heart-wrenching and quite graphic depictions of self-harm and abuse, so be forewarned. The slower paced scenes ultimately allowed the viewer to reflect on the serious issues presented in this film. This movie is relatively short, and the plot isn't that complicated, but everything about it is impactful.

What makes this film amazing is the acting. Nagano Mei truly become the character of Shiino Tomoyo. I could feel her anguish, frustration, and helplessness through the screen. Her character felt like an anchor for the viewer to hold onto. Her reactions felt very real, in the face of tremendous heartbreak and anger. All the characters had fantastic line delivery, but Nagano definitely owned this movie.

Even though this film is incredibly sad, there are elements of humor sprinkled throughout. It felt very real, as life is filled with beauty, tragedy, and comedy. I can't emphasize enough how gorgeous this film is. It's definitely an emotional roller coaster, so prepare tissues!

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Great acting from Nagano Mei

This is probably a must-watch for Nagano Mei's fans, because she did brilliantly in this movie. She usually play that pretty, sweet, good-mannered type of character so I'm kinda surprised she could pull off Shiina's character well. I haven't read the manga but people said this movie is very close to the original manga. The story is good, the acting is great, supporting characters also did well....but one thing I should say (or warn, maybe), this movie could make you sleepy. If you're not a fan of slow paced, poetic lines kind of movie, you should probably know about this in advance.... I skipped some 'muted' scenes (no dialogue, just the actors or the scenery) because I was feeling drowsy watching it.

I understand though, maybe the cinematography in this movie was intended to be the exact same as the manga, as much as possible. But in my opinion they should have added some nice, sentimental music in the background maybe? To make it more...idk, dramatic? Because it's not a plain 2D pictures audience is watching, it's a movie adaptation so I guess some more music in the background would be nice! Especially for audiences who haven't read the manga and couldn't grasp the emotion delivered by the main character from the original piece like me.
I gave it 7.5 out of 10 because I personally do not like slow paced-type of movie. But other than that, it was pretty good.

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