Rippu Van Winkuru no hanayome

"It's so difficult to be naked!" cried Amuro, the mysterious *villain* like character in "Bride for Rip Van Winkle".

Yes, in this world, we are always living under others' values. Those *others* love to attack you with their values without mercy. In Asian culture, this can be even worse. You may find less respects on people's life. Especially for the *elders*, who always have rights to criticize the *youngsters*. Traditional values always need to win, new values are always suppressed until it gets to the point to break through all the walls. However, lots of us prefer to be passive and live in our own shells.

Not surprisingly, internet thus becomes so popular in Asia. Even in country like China where Internet censorship and surveillance has tightly implemented, a large population of netizens are easily spotted out there. It's just because people need a way out! They need their own space and supporters. And, they need to speak out for themselves.

Although many lies exist in the viral reality, we probably still find truth and beauties there. And going beyond that, we find who we really are and whom we really need.

Porn sells. Yet it is treated with shame. Every one wants love. And it is fraught with all sorts of expectations. This movie doesn't provide any clarity on sex, marriage, friendship and kinship. But it sure asks us to look at them from another point of view.

The visuals, cinematography, and acting were great. However, story was lackluster. The movie dares to have 4 stories drag in a 3 hour movie.

The main female protagonist starts off down on her luck with risk of unemployment. However she meets a man online, gets married, then (without spoiling the story) we never see him again in the film. The truth is never revealed why it concluded that way. This trend continues with the actress meeting people but we never find out who they really are and what their motives are. We spend 3 hours in a movie but we do not even know the characters or get character development. That's right, the main protagonist doesn't learn anything through her journey.

The music choice was beautiful, however it felt like a cop out since they used popular pre- composed music.

I didn't know what to think when I started this film. I had to take a break, because it has 3 hours and there was too much emotion for me to take in. A lot of people seem to complain about the story, but I believe it's the strongest point of the film. The writer didn't give you anything on a plate, you have to figure out things on your own, kind of like in real life, you don't actually know what's going on through someone's mind or what their motives are. People have different ways of thinking and so the weird choices made my some characters are not random, and might make sense if there was more in depth analysis of that character in the film. This was a great experience and an amazing film. Everything is great from the actors to the story and cinematography.

Before this, I had already seen four movies by Iwai Shunji, and had still not committed to his works. Knowing that it would run for three hours, I did not count on completing it. As expected, it is very slow, but somehow there is always a light tension.

The story begins when a timid female teacher called Nanami meets a man that she has been chatting with on a dating app. What follows is a lethargic but epic adventure where Nanami gets to experience every emotion in life.

What makes it gripping is not that the obstacles and dangers are big, but that the main character is weak. Even in situations where some people would just shrug their shoulders, there is a fear for Nanami's safety. Still, she is not completely helpless, and does what she can to navigate the strange situations. The point is that there is a perfect balance between the challenges and the power of the protagonist.

Those threats can be of various kinds; economical or existential as well as physical. Some nasty things may happen that may remind of movies by Sono Shion, but Iwai Shunji is as usual a more restrained writer. It does not go into horror territory, even though there is a faint trace of it. Rather, it has similarities with old gothic novels.

Another parallell with Sono Shion is the use of the same kind of classical music. Already in the first scene, the classical background music is louder than the dialogue, making it hard to hear what they say. At first glance, it seems like a mistake. But in a movie where every scene is carefully crafted, it is hard to believe that there would be a mistake in the very first scene. It is easier to believe in some symbolic meaning. Maybe to emphasize how quietly Nanami speaks, or that the dialogue is unimportant cold talk.

Notable is also the sets. While not expensive-looking, they are sometimes unbelieavably cluttered. A lot of effort must have gone into just collecting and arranging all the items.

Also look for the few times the camera paradigm changes.

Adding to the tension is that all characters except the main are so mysterious. Many of them at some point show a glimpse of something unexpected, making you think they have something else going on. It's a simple trick, but works very well. In many cases, they feel like real humans, who have their own life, independent of the main character.

While the plot is not completely unpredictable, it makes its own path. One hour in, I still had no idea where it would go or even what genre it is. Fundamentally, it is realistic, but often dreamlike. It is like a real life, but depicting a certain period of that life that is the most fantastic, when the protagonist explores very unfamiliar territory. The most similar sentiment might be found in Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrik.

Iwai Shunji based the film on one of his own novels, so you can be sure that it is completely his own vision. The most sad thing is that it so long that it is hard to find an opportunity to show it to others. It is the most alluring movie I've seen this year, where every scene is fascinating and infinitely rewatchable.