The pressure of getting married.

We follow a woman in her late 20s who isn’t interested in getting married or having a relationship with a man. But her mother pushes her and is trying to find a husband for her daughter. Will the daughter cave in, or will she stand tall as a tree and not budge?

I didn’t think I would like this movie. Still, it’s an interesting story about social pressure and not wanting to stand out when you’re not interested in getting married or having a relationship with the opposite sex in Japan. It’s not easy being a woman around 30 in such a traditional country.

So we follow the protagonist, who is sincere when she tells people how she feels. She meets men and women, and they talk and get to know each other better—especially when the protagonist meets an old classmate whom she finds interesting and connects with.

There are some countries where you stick out like a sore thumb if you’re a woman and haven’t popped out a baby or found yourself a husband. Japan is one of those countries, so I’m pretty familiar with how this society works regarding Japanese women and how they’re looked down on if they’re single and childless, or if they have a child but no husband. So it’s no wonder that the birth rate in Japan has dropped to the bottom—except I think South Korea is in the sewer when it comes to birth rates. But if you know how women are treated in Japan, it’s no wonder they’re not interested in finding a man and starting a family. To hell with all men!

The acting is excellent, and you should recognize Tôko Miura, who played the grumpy driver in that overrated movie that won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Drive My Car. I hated that movie, but at least I like Tôko Miura, and she’s excellent in I Am What I Am.

As usual, I have to end by saying that I Am What I Am isn’t a movie for everybody. I feel it’s a film for movie nerds like me who have learned a lot about Japanese society and how it works. It’s also a movie for women—they don’t need to be Japanese—if they connect with the character and how the protagonist feels about having a relationship and trying to stand up for herself, refusing to follow the traditional path of starting a family and feeling trapped by what, especially, your mother expects from you. That’s something women in particular should empathize with. But beware—this is your typical slow-paced Japanese movie that burns slowly, and that’s not to everyone’s taste.

Rating: 7/10

Innlegget I Am What I Am (2022) – English Review dukket først opp på Not Only Hollywood.

A married couple gets their life turned upside down when a kidnapped girl hides in one of the boxes belonging to the husband while he’s out in nature recording sounds. The wife is psychic, and when they find the girl, she wants to try to get her 15 minutes in the spotlight, but then things turn into a mess. Women are the root of all problems we find in the world! Will she drag her husband down to hell because of her low self-esteem?

Seance is directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. I watched this movie about 15 years ago or so, and I didn’t appreciate it that much. I think I hated it. I just couldn’t help it at that time. I hated everything, except for My Sassy Girl and Miki Nakatani. Oh yeah!

I liked Seance more this time, but it’s far from perfect. It’s a slow-burning movie where you end up hating the husband and wife. They are so selfish—especially the wife, who is disgusting and pathetic—and we hope she’ll get caught or that something terrible will happen to her. They hold on to the kidnapped girl because the wife wants to become famous, but the husband is a little rough when handling the girl whenever she causes problems or when someone comes to their house. With the way the husband is handling her, the script telegraphs that this won’t end well.

There aren’t that many characters in the movie; it has quite a small cast, which is fine since the main focus is on the husband and wife and their egotistical ways after they find the kidnapped girl.
The movie has those creepy moments that Kiyoshi Kurosawa is known for. It’s not a scary movie, but it has the atmosphere that fans of the director love.

The ending is pretty bad, and come to think of it, I’m writing this review one hour after watching the movie, and I can’t remember the last scene. So that ending must have sucked!

If you like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Seance is worth a watch. It feels a little cheap at times because of the lower budget, though the actors are good, and it has its creepy moments. I wish the creepy scenes had more punch and memorable cinematography. Still, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is great at building suspense on a tight budget, and his sterile cinematography works here. But I won’t remember them the way I do scenes from a Darren Aronofsky movie.

Rating: 6/10

Innlegget Seance (2000) – English Review dukket først opp på Not Only Hollywood.

When life turns on you.

Girl Hell 1999 is directed by Daisuke Yamanouchi, who also made the two Red Room movies. He’s known for low-budget productions, and the Red Room movies are fun trash movies.

In Girl Hell 1999, we follow a woman who is not a happy person. The only thing that makes her happy is giving some food to a crazy homeless woman. Every time she returns home, she’s reminded of the hell she lives in. Her sister was in an accident and looks like a monster, and her father is a monster who does what monsters do inside the four walls of hell—and I don’t have to explain more than that, do I?

Then we have two freaks who must be fans of Ted Bundy. The tallest of them is in love with the protagonist, and he’s willing to change to become a better person so they can live a happy, normal life. Will this freak win the heart of the purest character in this tiny universe?

And lastly, we have a freaky pervert who has a secret and likes yellow liquid. He doesn’t get much screen time, but that kinky man steals the show.

Girl Hell 1999 is yet another Japanese nihilistic movie that disappointed me. After watching some of Katsuya Matsumura’s movies, especially the first four All Night Long movies, it’s clear his nihilistic style hits harder than anything I’ve seen from Daisuke Yamanouchi so far.

This is a low-budget movie with a surprisingly good score, and the cinematography is impressive for the budget. The universe is tiny, and the characters you follow have no real depth. They exist to make the protagonist’s life a living hell, and you just sit there waiting for her to snap. The characters are broken, perverted, and better off dead—except for the innocent, pure woman.

My favorite scenes are the milking scene tribute to Takashi Miike’s Visitor Q—and you know I like fresh milk, don’t you? If you do too, you’ll be satisfied by a couple of dirty scenes.

But my absolute favorite is the scene with the creepy pervert who steals the protagonist’s bicycle seat. What he does to the woman is supposed to be disturbing and messed up, but it was just hilarious. I wish that perverted man could have been a character in Twin Peaks.

Girl Hell 1999 offers the usual Japanese cocktail of violence, sex, and perversion. In the end, I didn’t find anything special about it. If you want something truly disturbing and memorable, skip this one and watch All Night Long II instead.

Rating: 4/10

Innlegget Girl Hell 1999 (1999) – English Review dukket først opp på Not Only Hollywood.

It’s hard to be a second grade citizen.

A not-so-bright woman starts working as a nanny for a rich family. The man of the house, who likes his fine wine, is a man who is used to getting what he wants, and he wants the new nanny. His wife is expecting twins, but he doesn’t care because he is the fine wine man, and he knocks up the nanny too. But then the wife and her evil mother discover that the nanny is pregnant with the fine wine man’s child, and they will do anything to get rid of the unborn child! The stupid nanny is in grave danger!

“The Housemaid” is a remake of a movie from 1960 that I have never watched. The remake stars two excellent actors. The nanny is played by my favorite South Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon. The fine wine man is played by Lee Jung-jae. These two are the highlight of the movie together with the cute little girl who looks like a walking football.

The problem with the movie is that the mother and wife are cartoon villains. They belong in a Cinderella movie. They will walk over corpses to get rid of the unborn child that the nanny is carrying, and what they do is so ridiculous that I couldn’t take the movie seriously. Their evil schemes belong in a cartoon, not in a movie like this. Sometimes, characters can be too evil, which is the case with these two characters.

The best South Korean directors are masters at mixing dark drama and black comedy, and it feels like there is a touch of black comedy here. But the characters are so one-dimensional except for the sexy, fine old woman, who looks like a man. She has some layers as a character, but the rest of the characters are one-dimensional.

The protagonist is a simple woman who isn’t very bright. She is a little slow in the head, and she lives in a fantasy world, it seems. So even though the things that happen to her are disgusting, she isn’t perfect. But her body is mighty fine, and so is the fine wine man’s body, even though I’m not into that.

I liked the ending though, especially when the protagonist has a crazy plan. The scene with her and the way her arch ends is cool and mighty fine, and if Dario Argento had watched the movie, I get the feeling he would have given this scene a thumbs up!

Come to think of it, “Parasite” can remind me of “The Housemaid.” I have made a movie commentary of “The Housemaid,” and while I was watching it, there was something familiar with the story and the characters. And then it occurred to me while writing this review. “Parasite” has copied a lot from “The Housemaid,” but “Parasite” is a much better movie about rich people who step on the little people.

This is a cold movie with unsympathetic characters, and the protagonist, who is supposed to be the angel, is a cheap woman who has no direction in life. Just watch “Parasite” instead of “The Housemaid.”

Rating: 4/10

Innlegget The Housemaid (2010) – English Review dukket først opp på Not Only Hollywood.

A man is planning to become a doctor, but after a traffic accident, he loses his memory, and his girlfriend dies. He still wants to become a doctor, but things don’t go exactly his way when he has to dissect a corpse during his studies, and the corpse turns out to be his deceased girlfriend. That is messed up!

Vital is directed by one of the most interesting directors from Japan, Shin’ya Tsukamoto. This is a pretty short movie with a runtime of around 80 minutes.

The first half is the best because it feels like you’re trapped in a nightmare together with the protagonist as he dissects his dead girlfriend. At first, he isn’t aware that the corpse is his girlfriend, but when he discovers it, the movie becomes disturbing to say the least. A normal man would have yelled out, “This is my dead girlfriend, you freaks! Give me another dead body I can dissect!” But not this guy, who is played by my favorite Japanese actor, Tadanobu Asano. I hate watching his older movies when he had long hair. He looks so strange and stupid. I’m sorry, my Japanese friends, but I have a hard time accepting that Japanese men have long hair. It doesn’t fit you, okay? Sorry, guys!

The protagonist’s relationship with his deceased girlfriend was toxic. She was depressed and wanted to leave Mother Earth. She even reminded me of Sada Abe because she loved strangling. She’s one messed-up character, and at the same time, you feel that the protagonist should maybe seek some help, because this relationship isn’t working, and she’ll drag him down to hell if he doesn’t escape. Then, when they’re out driving, they get hit by a truck, and she dies. But her toxicity is still in his veins, so what’s the antidote? The woman who is attracted to him but whom he doesn’t see?

The cinematography and editing are excellent, especially in the first half. They create such a special, twisted atmosphere that you don’t experience often. It’s a disturbing watch, but in the second half, the movie starts focusing more on the drama and aftermath. We see how the protagonist must accept that life goes on, but at the same time, he’s driving one of the other students crazy because she’s interested in him, yet he doesn’t notice her. But I have to say, she’s also a little creepy with her hairstyle, and she doesn’t seem like a good woman at all, since she makes one of the teachers kill himself.

I was a little disappointed by the second half after that fantastic first half, which had so much energy because of the cinematography and editing. And of course, the disturbing scenes where the protagonist digs deeper into the corpse of his dead girlfriend, which makes him remember things from the past. That helps him accept that she’s dead and that he must let her go. But as a movie experience, the second half is a downer because it feels so ordinary compared to the first half. Still, it’s a solid movie, so you should watch it if you’re a fan of twisted movies that stand out from the crowd.

Rating: 7/10

Innlegget Vital (2004) – English Review dukket først opp på Not Only Hollywood.

A man who finds women and sex boring meets a woman who sees potential in him as a call boy. Will he succeed in his new profession?

In this movie, we follow a really boring man who works as a bartender. One night, an older woman takes an interest in him because she sees his potential as a call boy. One day, he goes to meet her, thinking he’ll receive some love that night. Instead, she wants to sit in the corner and watch him make love to her young, beautiful, deaf companion. After the act is over, the older woman isn’t impressed, gives him just ¥5000, and calls his performance mediocre. However, the young woman steps in, hands him another ¥5000, and seems satisfied with his service for the night, that naughty, hot woman! This gives him the green light to start working for the older woman, meeting several elderly women who are, to put it mildly, perverted and looking for an ear to speak to.

I have to say that Call Boy entertained me. The protagonist is a boring, depressed character because he finds women and sex uninteresting. Well, congrats, man, you’re the most boring person in the world, and you can go to hell where you belong, you boring piece of fish.

But he has a redeeming quality: when his mother disappeared or died (I can’t quite remember), he got a deep emotional scar, and now he connects with elderly women because all he really wants is a new mother. So, he meets these elderly women, some of whom are downright nuts.

Two of my favorites are particularly memorable. First, there’s the woman who’s like a beaver during the love act and loves visiting her dentist. She has a filthy mouth, and her erotic scene is wild and hilarious because she genuinely embodies a human beaver when she goes to work on the call boy. Poor man, she almost destroys his reputation, and she is his first one! She should handle him with care and respect! Damn, those beavers!

Another standout is the woman who wants to relive moments from her childhood when she had to pee. Yes, you probably know where this is going. I can’t get this scene out of my head. She pees like a man! She’s incredibly disturbing, and I think she works as a librarian. What a sick and awesome scene!

Then there’s the last erotic scene I really enjoyed: the one with the man in the wheelchair watching the protagonist have fun with his young wife. The perverted man in the wheelchair likes it rough. That scene is so cool. It would’ve made Tom Cruise proud, and the climax is just pure magic.
The most boring scenes are with the prettiest woman in the movie, the young deaf woman. The protagonist gets to have fun with her twice, but she’s painfully boring in bed. She’s also lazy, though her fine body sort of makes up for it. Still, she really needs to work on her attitude in bed.
And then there’s a disturbing scene with an extremely elderly woman that I’m trying to erase from my memory. I didn’t deserve that.

The movie’s point becomes clearer as the protagonist starts seeing women in a new light after his experiences. He becomes a more respectful man, though there’s also a sad scene involving another young woman who is in love with him. That scene hit surprisingly hard. He broke her goddamn heart!

The movie ultimately highlights how elderly women need love, too. Sometimes, they need to call a boy to please them, listen to them, respect them, and give them some affection for the evening. But since this is a Japanese movie, you know it’s full of dark, perverse fantasies. Watch out for the Japanese beavers and urinators!
The Japanese are portrayed as perverts with dark fantasies who turn into monsters when they want some love. That makes the scenes funny and absurd to watch, but many of the moments where they talk and share their feelings are interesting, as you understand what they’re missing in their lives, even though they seem to have plenty of money and successful careers. They lack something in their lives, a connection, and a hard present, and that’s why they call the call boy.

Rating: 6/10

Innlegget Call Boy (2018) – English Review dukket først opp på Not Only Hollywood.

Chained love.

Innlegget Movie Highlight Reel: Dark Love (2008) dukket først opp på Not Only Hollywood.

Meet the Hong Kong version of Patrick Bateman. You know what that means, right?

There are two versions of this movie out there: the Hong Kong version, on which this review is based, and the Taiwanese version, which cuts out most of the naughty scenes and replaces them with dirty talk and some scenes involving a mentally challenged person who, in one scene, gets the chance to enjoy himself. I recommend watching the Hong Kong version, even though the inclusion of dirty talk and a bit more violence makes the villain in the movie more intimidating, much like his brother, Patrick Bateman!

A lawyer who can’t get enough of hot women, who is Hong Kong’s answer to Patrick Bateman, spots a woman in a commercial whom he wants to try out. He is a little rough with the ladies, and he fantasizes about doing something naughty. Just ask his ex-girlfriend.

He carries handcuffs with him when he goes out on his love missions, making him somewhat of a rival to Japan’s Fartman. The only difference is that Fartman targets naughty women! However, the woman he desires isn’t interested in him, so he has to come up with a plan to make the hottie discover what a real man is. Will he succeed with his crazy plan?

Though “Raped by an Angel” features Simon Yam and Chingmy Yau in the leading roles, it’s not a sequel to “Naked Killer.” Apart from the actors mentioned, they share nothing in common. And as always, Chingmy Yau is smoking hot.

Naturally, I had to check out this movie, which has spawned four sequels. What a title for a movie series! What a title indeed! I can assure you that I’ll be watching and reviewing all five movies! Join me on this thrilling journey, all you perverted souls out there! All aboard the pervert train!

I must admit, “Raped by an Angel” surpasses the first three “The Fartman” movies I’ve seen. It’s a sick movie with a twinkle in its eye, despite its disturbing and serious subject matter. But, being a Hong Kong movie, it couldn’t care less about taboos. And that’s what I love about it. It’s a sick and fun ride! Well, not for the women, but for Patrick Bateman. He will rock, rock, till they drop. He will rock, rock, and never stop.

I love the sick lawyer with his sick fantasies, who could be the half-brother of Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho” (2000). He’s pretty ripped, too, just like our favorite Patrick Bateman. Mark Cheng excels in the role of a sociopath straight from the depths of hell! Hats off to you, Mark!

I’m not sure if it’s the poor English translation, but the movie’s English subtitles provide some additional entertainment value. It’s a small bonus of sorts. I love watching Hong Kong movies with badly translated English subtitles. It’s half the fun, especially if the movie is bad. That has saved me many times when all I wanted to do was press the stop button.

There’s a lot to laugh at here. You also get a lot to laugh at considering the sick story, where the lawyer plans how to win the hottie’s heart, or in this case, slap his handcuffs on her and show her how romantic he is. The man is completely insane, and I loved this character! It feels like you’re watching a comedy with dark undertones. It would have been fantastic to see this character and Patrick Bateman collaborate. The two would surely have done awful things with The Fartman! Run, Fartman, because now it’s your turn next time! You have always been a coward!

“Raped by an Angel” has some dead time in the middle of the movie and during the trial. But the ending, oh boy, it’s fantastic when the lawyer unveils a new, wicked plan. He’ll get what’s coming to him, and the movie has one of the best revenge endings I’ve ever seen!

This movie’s plot will surely provoke many. But if you enjoy bizarre movies that blend dark humor with excellent performances, then this is a movie worth watching. It’s a wild and fun ride, and Chingmy Yau is such a hottie! Yeah, baby!

Rating: 6/10

Innlegget Raped by an Angel (1993) aka Naked Killer 2 – English Review dukket først opp på Not Only Hollywood.

After a married couple loses their young daughter in a freak accident, the wife has a mental breakdown, and she finds comfort in a creepy doll. Then one day she gives birth to a new daughter, and the doll is forgotten, until the day their daughter finds it. Then the family’s new nightmare begins.

I was surprised when one of my favorite movie directors, Shinobu Yaguchi, made a horror movie. The director behind Dollhouse is mostly known for making fun and warm family movies like Waterboys and Swing Girls. But this time, he has taken the step into horror with his first attempt, and the result is pretty good. But there is a but here.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the story up until the married couple decides to try to break the curse. And you know what that means, right? That means it is time to copy one of my favorite horror movies of all time, Ring. And that was such a stupid and, at the same time, lazy decision from the director.

The movie is really entertaining and creepy up until the third act. It is not a movie that relies on cheap jump scares. It builds atmosphere and tension, and I did not know if the story would take me to a much darker place than expected, considering who the director is. That uncertainty kept me engaged.

But the last 30 minutes were a huge disappointment because the plot became so familiar and predictable. It feels like the director, who also wrote the script, hit a wall, gave up, and went with the most predictable ending possible. The ending had some potential, even though it would not have offered anything new, and there are a few short scenes that kept me guessing, which is good. Still, it is also a movie that left me with some essential questions that I never felt were answered. So in the end, the script is the weak link here.

If you are a big fan of the director like I am, it is worth watching Dollhouse, since it is a pretty solid horror movie for about an hour before the script starts cracking. It has atmosphere and uncertainty, and the actors are also pretty good, especially one of my favorite Japanese actresses, Masami Nagasawa. Just be prepared to be disappointed toward the end.

Rating: 6/10

Innlegget Dollhouse (2025) – English Review dukket først opp på Not Only Hollywood.

A rude Frenchman!

A French man, who is an artist of some sort, visits a coastal town, and a young woman, who lives and works there with her mother, becomes interested in him because she has heard that her biological father was a French man, but he left before she was born. She finds it suspicious that a French artist suddenly visits her depressing little coastal town, and she tries to get closer to him, but it is not easy, because he is French and rude, like most French people are, so that is why we do not like them. It is impossible to like the Frenchies.

Winter in Sokcho is a small movie with a first-time director, and this is also the first full-length movie that the main actress, Bella Kim, has starred in. I have no idea who she is, but I have to say that she is pretty solid in the role of a young woman who is longing to find her biological father. Her mother is not doing well because of health issues, and the coastal town she lives in is a depressing place. Many people living there want to move to the capital to get plastic surgeries, as many South Koreans dream about, since they are a little messed up in the head.

Is there anything special about this depressing movie that is not a visual feast for your eyes? No, I found the movie boring. I liked the protagonist, and I liked the actress, but I really did not like the Frenchman or the actor who played him. It is totally absurd that we are supposed to believe that this man, who looks like Shrek, could be the biological father of our dearest Bella Kim. How stupid does the director think the audience is?

I did not find the chemistry between them good, because of the Frenchman and the way his character is written. He is an intense man who is, like most artists, only caring about himself, and he gets angry when he cannot find inspiration and all the other nonsense that usually follows these maniacs. He has the look of Shrek and the aura of a serial killer you would not want anywhere near your daughter.

There was not much I got from Winter in Sokcho. It is a slow burner where the two most important characters lack chemistry, and, in the end, I did not feel that the story led anywhere. The only thing I found interesting was the relationship between the protagonist and her mother, but again, there is nothing special about their relationship or what awaits them. So, Winter in Sokcho is a waste of time if you are into this genre.

Rating: 4/10

Innlegget Winter in Sokcho (2024) – English Review dukket først opp på Not Only Hollywood.