apaksoy

Maggie Q acting is not too bad, but her appearance is unconvincing. It looks like LAPD has appointed a former super model or something as a detective. Unsurprisingly Maggie Q takes care of herself well in private life with her career probably depending on that and she looks younger than her age though one can still notice after looking carefully. The problem is it would be quite difficult for a career detective to take care of herself so well physically, I mean skin, wrinkles and possibly figure-wise. Otherwise, the plot is full of cliches though still watchable and good acting in the side roles.

Woodley as Shailene is good but Mendelsohn as Lamark not so much. That is one of the main weaknesses of this movie. Another one is that events at the beginning and how they relate to or cause each other at the beginning are not very convincing including the amount of damage and hurt caused by the actions of the shooter. Of course there are also quite a few cliches, especially in the first half. Acting and the script gets better, however, in the last half with Woodley coming more the fore and script getting a bit more creative. I think those who like crime dramas are likely to enjoy this movie significantly more than those who are not too much into this genre.

This is a movie about how the former sex-worker Chihiro, now working at a bento shop as a sales person, helps those emotionally in need who come her way from all ages and also how she connects them with each other. Perhaps her approach has something to do with the Geisha culture which seems to be based on things more than sexual attraction. Good acting in general. Little physical action but some emotional ups and downs. The Japanese society is more hierarchical than those in other developed countries and family ties are stronger but they also suffer quite a bit from loneliness and this movie shows how some of them try to deal with it (or unable to) without being pessimistic.