Orange - JMovie

Again movies about friendship just have something really ‘tear-jerky’ about them that make you take a second look at your life and those around you. In my recent venture into watching such movies I came across a Japanese movie that was brought to life from manga. After watching this movie I can see why it grew so much and became something that had to be shown in other forms of media.

Orange is a movie that somewhat caters to two of my current favorite genres as it covers a bit of sci-fi and romance and creates a curious story that is relatively simple in nature though it actually has a powerful impact in terms of message and feels. At least that is my humble opinion. The story follows Naho Takamiya who has received a strange letter that that seems to be from her future self. In the letter, it details various things that surprise and slightly scare poor Naho who isn’t sure what to do with it at first, but slowly begins to take it seriously as she realizes that in the letter are the regrets her future self has and wants her younger self to change, if possible.

Amongst those regrets Naho discovers that Kakeru Naruse is amongst the most present in all she wants to change and as she slowly begins to learn more about him and eventually, as the letter predicts, falls in love with him she decides to make sure she clears all the regrets around him. It is here she discovers that Kakeru has an ominous future that creates many regrets for her and her group of friends who venture to take Kakeru under their wing.

It is upon finding this out that Naho and the others strive to change Kakeru’s fate as they work to create various memories and experiences with him, in hopes that they can change the future that the letter predicts. However, things don’t always go smoothly as things seem determined to stay the same as predicted and the group of friends struggles to find various ways to stop it. Especially Naho who refuses to let Kakeru go as she realizes how much of a regret it is as it affects her after so many years later.

In the process we see as these teens work to change the mind of a troubled young man who hides his pain and tries to struggle forward without letting others see as he thinks he needs to do everything on his own. Seeing the change as he begins to rely and trust the friends he has pushed aside makes for quite an interesting change in psychology as you witness what a few little things and experiences can do to change one’s mindset and potentially stop them from making very stupid decisions.

I like that the story turned out to be one where active help was sought for a troubled and depressed mind that was growing wary and dejected. Sure it could be seen as a bias way of looking at things as we see things not from the troubled man’s point of view but instead from that of Naho who is effectively a random third party that only gets introduced into his life after things have gone south. Still I feel it’s a relevant point of view as it shows us that those afflicted with their troubles aren’t the only ones who suffer silently and greatly.

The actors did a great job portraying that characters and the mood of the film stayed light and altered accordingly as the story moved along giving you the appropriate idea of how things were meant to be felt and experienced.

Let's Fight, Ghost! - KDrama

There’s nothing like a good supernatural story that has the right amount of scary and still doesn’t take itself too seriously. That is what I found in the kdrama I recently finished watching. If I can say one thing about that drama, it’s that even as it brought about a few predictable clichés it still came through as an enjoyable scary romance that I personally think anyone should watch if they love scary and fantasy genre stuffs.

The drama, Let’s fight ghost, was a rather surprisingly good story that followed Park Bong Pal who has the ability to see ghosts and uses this to be an exorcist at a somewhat pricey cost as he tries to raise funds in order to have surgery on his eyes. An isolated individual due to his ability we see a smart and withdrawn guy get dragged into some interesting situations where ghosts are troubling people for various reasons. One such situation has him meeting a rather unusual ghost, a high school girl who is in search of her name and who she was.

Enter Kim Hyun Ji who has roamed the earth for the past five years unaware as to who she is and how she died. Not much of a trouble maker we see her run into Bong Pal and immediately the two start fighting. Witness to this are the most lovable duo ever, who are in search of filming ‘real’ ghosts. Choi Chung Sang and Kim In Rang are just your average ghost seekers scared to death of seeing anything undead but determined to catch it on film and make it big.

This interesting group come together and formed a sort of ghost Extermination Company run by the special leader Chung Sang and funded by the highly skeptical grandmother of In Rang. Of course the anti-social Bong Pal is manipulated into joining while Hyun Ji does so simply because she wishes to hang around Bong Pal who has already unlocked some of her memories from the past.

As the story progresses we see Bong Pal grow as a person as he falls in love with Hyun Ji, who slowly comes close to the truth of the circumstances around her death. Making things more interesting is the events that lead to the realization that Bong Pal’s life is also in danger and that that danger is something Hyun Ji also needs to be wary of.

The story keeps you hooked as it develops smoothly, never dragging out the obvious for too long and ensuring that the clichés and predicable storyline plots work for the story as opposed to against it. The cinematography is pretty decent and the ghosts are bound to give you a chill or two as they prove to be more gruesome and bloody than you would assume a romance to allow, especially a kdrama romance.

The acting, though not perfect, was good enough to keep you interested in the characters and allow yourself to fall in love with them, imperfections and all. Of course not all acting was like that. Some acting, such as the adorable stupid duo, was quite brilliant. I mean one can’t watch In Rang and not feel all fuzzy inside.

All in all I liked how the story went and though I found the ending a tad soft and maybe a little incomplete, I guess I can understand why they would do that. So if you’re into science fiction and horror, I would definitely suggest this drama.