Destiny: Kamakura monogatari

I wasted my time by watching this movie. You don't.

I loved this film, I saw it at camera Japan festival. It is so sweet and loving, a fantasy- and lovestory in one. Yes it's slow-paced, but it makes it even more beautiful, and the small turns are little presents. Wish I could watch it again, but it's not really available in my country.

I saw this yesterday, on a long-haul flight, with English subtitles - I was intrigued, because I already own the manga version, and have a Youtube channel dedicated to Kamakura (Green Morning Dragon Productions). I am not a huge fan of Japanese cinema - I find it overly melodramatic, and stocked with agency 'tarento' who leave me cold. Thankfully not the case, here. Very well cast - the two leads, Takahata (my first introduction to her work, and hopefully not the last) and Sakai were excellent together, the story was engaging, without being schlocky or ludicrous, and the film looked luscious - the special effects were outstanding, and brought a lot to the film. If you're into Harry Potter, I think you'll like this for the creatures and the well-executed fantasy element too. A clever, romantic fantasy, with heart.

This movie started off interesting but I think the poor pacing ruined it. It jumps around to different kinds of plots but nothing sticks around long enough for the viewer to care. Also nothing is really explained very well. Stuff with strange creatures and the undead just sort of happens like this in Kamakura. Least that is what I could get out of it. The thing is I thought it would be a much different kind of movie. Something like a fantasy setting? At the 1 hour mark I was wondering, "Is this over yet?"

Maybe if you have some knowledge about the manga you might enjoy it more? That seems to be the kind of trend I see from watching these manga/anime to live action movies. I rarely watch Japanese movies because the overall quality is poor and this is no different.

I thought Mitsuki Takahata as Akiko was absolutely adorable though.

The pacing and visual are bad, but I do like the music