Title: Gekijou / 劇場
Rating: 7 / 10
Recommended for:
For those who like bittersweet stories and are fans of Yamazaki Kento & Matsuoka Mayu
* Potential spoilers ahead!
* Disclaimer: I have not read the original novel.
* Currently available on Amazon Prime (subject to geographical location)
Liked:
- The acting of the two leads is definitely the highlight of this movie. Yamazaki deviated from his usual youthful and largely positive screen image to play this unkept, lethargic and jaded character Nagata who leeched onto his girlfriend Saki played by Matsuoka. Honestly speaking, this couple didn't have any lovey-dovey scenes or even shared a kiss so there was hardly anything romantic about their relationship. Even so, it was easy to see from their acting how their mutual attraction was hard to pull apart despite both having a negative influence on each other.
As Nagata tends to keep his emotions bottled up, Yamazaki had to do a lot of monologue to explain his thinking and actions but often in a toned-down and somewhat emotionless manner. I thought that he managed to show Nagata's state of mind pretty well through this movie although his fans might miss seeing his face and a more positive vibe here (hair covering most of his face, walking with a slouch at times and looking listless). On the other hand, Saki was very expressive and showed her emotions on her face at first but as she gradually withdrew inwards in fear of making Nagata unhappy and wanting to preserve their relationship, it was painful to see her change. Matsuoka did so well in conveying this transition and I really liked her scenes in the ending moments of this movie.
- The love story itself may have been quite predictable in the sense that there was no way this couple could have a happy ending because of the toxicity in their relationship. As such, if you liked "La La Land", you might feel satisfied with the ending here.
While it may be easy to see Saki as the sole victim, I think it did work both ways for them. She was unable to stand up for herself so that allowed Nagata to take liberties with her and gradually make her clam up and not speak her mind. Likewise, Nagata may have appeared as a shameless leech at times but deep down, he probably minds this fact more so than anyone else and blamed Saki for being too soft on him yet being too caring at times which put unseen pressure on him. It was painful to see how much they were tormenting each other yet not letting go because they were stuck to each other like magnet opposites.
Disliked:
- The length of this movie could have been shortened to fit within 2 hours and the pace made much faster. While things started off pretty quickly, it slowed down so much from the point Nagata started living with Saki right till the end. I'm sure the audience would have understood how painful and toxic their relationship became so I wondered if it was necessary to prolong our suffering by seeing their interactions dragged out like this. Especially in the parts when Nagata was being a total jerk, it really made me quite annoyed and I had the urge to fast forward through those scenes.
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