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.

"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.

I cant recommend this movie . The movie goes on in an untrusrable environment and you do not know if any one is acting real ... Real life is never like this and you can manage to recognize true from void... This movie seemingly is mixed with paranoia and phsyosis or similar terms ...

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.