A Bride for Rip Van Winkle

When well-intentioned parents coddle their children, the children may have difficulty fending for themselves after leaving the family rose garden. This film depicts the travails of a naive young woman who faces the world alone after her protective bubble bursts. Her story is structured in two parts. In the first the heroine Nanami seamlessly continues her comfortable middle class life after finishing college, but then loses her husband and her job. Uprooted and displaced, in the second part she broadens her social exposure, and for the first time experiences the intense union of passionate love, with a nonconformist woman of great personal integrity who is a law unto herself. Contrasts between part one and part two expose shortcomings of typical middle class child rearing and of passionless relationships, and reveal the potential for self-affirmation through our fundamental need to love.

Nanami speaks for many young adults who are ill-prepared to deal with reality. The film is psychologically insightful, emotionally eloquent, witty, moving, and executed on a high technical level. Acting is wonderful, brava brava Haru Kuroki and Cocco. Renaissance man Shunji Iwai proves himself to be at the pinnacle of auteurs. The connection between the music and Nanami's emotional states is so intimate that the film could be viewed as an interpretation of the music. For example, in part one Mozart's delicate and other-worldly Concerto for Flute and Harp mirrors the blissful innocence of one who is naively out of it. Part two begins with Bach's Air on the G String, solemn, melancholy, like a funeral march infused with tenderness and sympathy. It captures her dire state of helpless bewilderment and our compassion for a despairing soul. This film is in that tradition of Japanese cinema where enlightenment on important humanist issues was accomplished through empathy. There is much to appreciate for viewers who are interested in the existential crisis that can occur during the transition from a conventional middle class upbringing, to a sustainable path toward self-fulfillment as an adult.

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.

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.

The movie may be quite long, but it will hold your attention smoothly you won't realize the runtime. My point being: the story of the lead girl and the people she encounters is very engaging. Its like looking through a window to the life of someone dear to you.

A Bride for Rip Van Winkle isn't actually about Rip Van Winkle. Its about a young adult named Nanami whose roller-coaster of a life forces you to empathize with her. Rip Van Winkle does not enter until the second hour. Nanami had everything against her: a failed marriage, a broken family, no job. She sought refuge with a man named Amuro (Go Ayano) who stages acts, depending on the request of the client (he's like an actor-for-hire--but he has people working with him or for him too). The pivotal turn of the events happened when Amuro hired Nanami to become housemaid of a mansion, the owners thereof are untold. Rip Van Winkle is the internet name used by Mashiro (Cocco) a fellow actor-for-hire turned friend of Nanami. Turns out Mashiro was also a housemaid in said house. But that's not the only interesting thing about Mashiro. Her life is as interesting as that of Nanami. She has her own share of trials and then you get to empathize with her. An awkward lesbian love then ensues. I say awkward because there's something in Cocco's portrayals that kinda disturbes me. But that's just me. Anyway, the unfolding of subsequent events are dramatic. The ending is nothing but a good screen shot of a lady looking afar, probably reflecting of how her life has been and how it will be in the future.

The movie feels like so many things happened yet the simplicity of it all is retained. Its melodramatic but no extensive emotions are required.The pacing is fine-tuned. What made this movie more remarkable is its exploitation of piano pieces that jibe with the emotion of the film.

For me rating should be around 4-5/10. the disconnect of the 1st half with 2nd half i thought there's some clever hidden scheme of why he did it to the main protagonist but we dont have an answer for that so it just remain the answer given "the mother made it" and...i should probably stop here not even bother spoil it but my advise is you guys better spend 3hrs doing other things than watching this movie. i regret watching this movie so badly now