This is a depressing movie so if you're like me, who didn't see it coming, then you're better off watching something else, because 30 mins into it, I didn't feel like crying or pity for the main character, but just wished I hadn't started the movie at all.
Now, if you're a fan of Ikuta Toma, you can try watching, but if not, really, you have better stuffs to watch. I like Ikuta Toma, a lot, not as a diehard fan, but ever since HanaKimi, I try not to miss his movies/dramas. But this character is far from likeable, it's just someone I felt no sympathy with.
Oba Yozo, is born with a silver spoon as we see in the beginning, he was surrounded with a bunch of little girls with tens of other maids to greet him at home. Heck, he has a horse carriage. However, the next thing we see was him, standing under a tree, saying he's sorry for being born. Why exactly, I don't know but he's gifted, he's smart, had everything he could ever ask for, but somehow that wasn't enough for him. Maybe he couldn't find his soul, his will to live.
Fast forward to his adult life, his father sold off the house and he became broke (maybe due to business failure). So, poverty came and he began to lament about his sorry life. Yet all he cared for was to drink his life away or chain-smoke his lungs away. This was the part where I began to really lose interest in this character. For all I care, he could just die. And death was something he'd always planted in his mind.
Watching a really pathetic character like this complaining about his life to another person when he'd done nothing, literally NOTHING to earn money for himself really frustrated me.
Didn't know Ishihara Satomi was in the movie too.
Thought:
I admit I didn't finish the movie. I just couldn't accept someone like Yozo. He was realistic yes, money is crucial for everyone to survive, you need them to buy food, clothings etc. However, he didn't put an ounce of effort to work or earn $! All he did was to lure them out of every single lady he met in his life and wasted them away by drinking and smoking. He did commit suicide several times, but somehow never seemed to succeed.
Maybe the movie didn't do the novel justice. I didn't read the novel, so I wouldn't know. Ikuta Toma, sadly, this character wasn't made for him. Sure, they did get the message from the title across though. Ikuta Toma really resembled a soul-less person, pale, dead and zombie-like. My final remarks would be: Avoid if you don't want to watch a full 2 hours of somebody just wasting his life away.
Rating: 3/10
Rating: 3/10
Really unfortunate you didn't finish. Like many Japanese films (I think) not everything is to just be taken simple at face value. I haven't read the novel either but I do know it's semi-autobiography (along those lines) and I think it goes into how people who are similar to this character (and author) feels. It's kinda like knowing you're not fit for this place and knowing you won't be accepted... even from when you're young. He couldn't fix that feeling nor make it go away with alcohol, drugs and women.. In a way I can relate to the character and I guess I wouldn't want the film to end in some "Ok, well let's get hat genki spirit!" because his feelings & emotions are simple like that.. I guess it's hard to explain but I feel as though this movie & character realistically represents many people out there who have to hold in how they feel, view the world, and everything and continuing putting on a mask.. and after a while it gets painful and too much to hold and eventually you just... simply don't care. No every person is striving to live nor I think are obligated to. Well, that's my view on it anyway. It's a human-drama movie tat makes you look at the perception of someone who differs you
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