Blue

To the person with the dvd with no subs!

Subtitles for this movie are available on the net! However, combining with your dvd could be tricky.

Your easiest option would be just to download the film, along with subtitles. Morally, you have purchased the film anyway.

Or you could rip your dvd using a program like handbrake, and then download subtitles and attempt to sync the two.

I've had this movie on my radar for a while, only knowing the vague Wikipedia description (it gives a lot fewer details than on here as I write this) and seeing it on sapphic movie lists. I didn't know much about the plot, but thought it might make for a nice movie date with my girlfriend. To me surprise, this movie was a lot more solemn than I anticipated.

I think it does capture a certain yearning, especially when you're school aged, and for myself hit home. The movie as I stated, was a lot more somber, but I still think it hit a realism within it. The move itself was shot beautifully, the area was a perfect backdrop and from stills alone you can get the feel of the artistic lens powering it.

My only complaint is I do think certain scenes dragged on too long. I do realize they had a point though, and I'm sure my feeling that way is because of attention issues; but in that same note, the dragging had a realism and made you contemplate the scene more thoughtfully-- the composition, the nature, ect.

The slowness may deter people, and there isn't a ton of dialogue, but if you're willing to sit through a 2hr movie for more of a slow emotional piece with gorgeous scenery, then I'd recommend it. Maybe not for date night, however.

After thousand of years, love is a deep and hard thing, even loving and staying in peace with your partner it's hard, you still feel some "pain" to think that you're not the right person or something.

This movie is not just about two girls in love and their problems, but love in general, you don't need a full reason to like someone, you just like and that's it, relationships don't have an instruction manual, when you love someone, you gotta do two things: love them and never hurt them, of course, not gonna be perfect, and that's love in his pure form.

I really like this film, not just the story but the cinematography, beautiful as well.

When I watched this move, I felt that Japan is a beautiful country. Filmed in provincial cities of Niigata, and Takaoka (Toyama prefecture) Blue captures the lives of two high school girls from Spring to Autumn.

The movie is beautiful in many ways, but especially in the way each scenes are shot. Director Hiroshi Ando is a veteran of directing youth oriented movies, but also has an eye for sharp clean images.

Mikako Ichikawa who played Kayako Kirishima won the best actress award at the 24th International Movie Festival in Moscow with this movie.

The movie that's written, and acted by Gen-X writer and actors has all the subdued feelings of that generation.

Both Mikako Ichikawa and Manami Konishi are models, and are unusually tall for Japanese women, Ichikawa hitting 5'7", and Konishi at 5'6" tall.

Both Ichikawa, and Konishi has successful career as actors, and are familiar faces in Japanese TV now.

I liked this movie for the beautiful imagery. The small stories that's inserted as the scene changes were almost like moving poems. I wanted to see more of relation between Endo, and Kirishima but the movie just kept going without drastic change in the flow.

The movie is well crafted and is definitely worth seeing.

If you're interested in visiting the areas that this movie was shot, here are the locations:

Niigata City:

Mandaibashi bridge by route 7

Furumachi Mall

Niigata station (West side connector pass)

Keiwagakuen High School (The art room scene)

Takaoka City (Toyama prefecture):

Fushiki High school (Near JR Etchu-Kokubu station)

When Blue had its too-short art house theatrical run, it was subtitled in English. Naturally I missed it, and recently picked up the DVD having heard raves. The DVD has no subtitles at all, which is somewhat baffling given that the translation work had already been done. Does anyone know of a source for a script, or an otherwise easily translatable source for the dialog? Several small theaters I've attended actually distributed typed scripts in English for films with spotty subtitles. If anyone had the dialog for Blue, I'd sure like to read it.

The movie's deliberate pace, calm tone and long uninterrupted takes (5-10 minutes in some cases) really set it apart from more conventional Japanese (and American) fare. Mikako Ichikawa, who may be known to some from her supporting roles in Cutie Honey and Jam Films 2's "Armchair Theory", is impressive. Her character's restraint and painful shyness comes across almost completely through her eyes. She seems almost impenetrable, yet fragile.

This story would have genuine appeal to the U.S. art cinema crowd. Anyone who enjoyed Ghost World could do a lot worse: Blue captures the outsider feel of Clowes' characters without the forced quirkiness.