Quick Review #59: Rurou no tsuki (movie)

Title: Rurou no tsuki / 流浪の月

Rating: 2 / 10

Recommended for: 

NA

Liked:

- While the meaning of the title and the reasons why Fumi (Matsuzaka Toori) and Sarasa (Hirose Suzu) were meant for and suitable for each other were only revealed towards the very end, the good thing was that they turned out to be logical and convincing on the whole. 

Disliked: 

- The excruciatingly slow pace of the movie was a huge dampener even after I turned up the playback speed about one-third into the film. It would really take a lot of patience for the viewers to sit through the slower parts. The uneven pacing made the whole viewing experience feel like a car ride alternating between bouts of speeding and sudden braking - in other words, not smooth at all.

- I haven't read the novel before so I'm not sure whether the movie did convey the essence or the strengths of the original work. Just based on the movie alone, I felt that the build-up of the story was simply too drawn-out and the ending (while convincing and logical as I highlighted above) did feel like it was shoved into the face of the audience last minute without giving the time and space for things to sink in properly.  

In addition, the second leads were portrayed in such an one-dimensional way that it felt like they were entirely at fault for causing misery to Fumi and Sarasa but they too deserved sympathy for what Fumi and Sarasa put them through. I would have preferred a more balanced way of showing the key characters' good and bad sides rather than a clear-cut classification of who's at fault and who's a victim. Ultimately, it takes two hands to clap.

And the movie never properly addressed what happened to Sarasa's friend who dumped her daughter on Sarasa and took off for a longer-than-expected holiday with her new boyfriend. That is one unresolved mystery which I thought should have been answered properly.

- Excessive nudity and intimate scenes. This is especially with reference to the bed scenes featuring Yokohama Ryuusei and Hirose Suzu in particular which I felt that they didn't need to go to that extent to show the nature of Ryo and Sarasa's sexual relationship. I felt especially uncomfortable that Hirose had to be touched in that way because there was actually no need for that. 

Likewise, the final revelation of Fumi's issue - although it was not shown in full and clear view, I thought that the shot lingered too long on Matsuzaka and should have been shifted elsewhere after the initial scene for viewers to get the idea. 

Less can be more and unless it's absolutely needed, more care should be taken when filming such scenes for the sake of the cast members.