Check out my review of the first volume of the Honey and Clover manga series here, and my review of A Taste of Tea here. I really love Viz Pictures, and although these films are not two of my favorites from their catalog, they are still titles which I would import if I were in charge!

Honey and Clover

Directed by Masahiro Takata
Viz Pictures, 116 minutes
Unrated

I love the Honey and Clover manga and anime series, but the movie left me a bit cold. I watched the first episode of the live action drama series, and I have to admit the film is a much better adaptation than the TV show.

For the unfamiliar, here’s the plot in a nutshell: Takemoto is in love with the talented Hagu, a painting student and the younger cousin of professor Hanamoto at an art school near Tokyo. The talented eighth-year senior Morita is also in love with Hagu, the only artist who has ever posed a challenge to him. Meanwhile, Yamda is in love with mutual friend Mayama, who is in love with his boss at his internship. If the right people fell for each other at the right time, there would be no dramatic tension. That said, don’t get your hopes up, because in this film nobody gets together with anybody.

The film favorably adapts the characters to the big screen; Mayama is portrayed as the stalker he really is, Yamada cries less (she hardly cries at all, really), and Hagu is physically small without being either lolicon (like the anime) or hamster-like (as in the manga). Hanamoto and Morita appear much older in real life than they do in the manga (which is accurate). Takemoto is a bit of a blank slate, but that is the crux of his character.

Due to the serialized nature of the manga, the plot does not unfold in a three-act narrative, rather, the story unwinds across the screen. I’m not sure it would make sense to fans unfamiliar with the original work, and it will certainly bore viewers who are not experienced meandering films typical of international festivals.

My disappointment in the film is two-tiered. First of all, it does not reflect my actual college experience on any level. Granted, I went to an American film school and not a Tokyo art school… but I was hoping to identify in some small way. I strongly identified with some of the characters in the anime/manga versions. I can’t put my finger on the factor that made the film less universal.

My second disappointment comes from the ridiculous “making art” montages. Hagu and Morita do a lot of abstract expressionist art in montages which are presented to the viewer in a way that forces the message “Gee! Painting sure is fun!” or worse: “I wish I was so young and talented!” The art produced in these montages is not great, and you can’t force me into thinking painting is that much fun! I’ve tried it!

The English-lyric songs on the soundtrack have distractingly literal lyrics (the songs directly relate to the action on screen). If the songs were in Japanese I wouldn’t be distracted by the lyrics–even if I was presented with subtitles. The songs come off in a Felicity-buy-my-soundtrack! commercially way.

I’m glad Viz imported this so Honey & Clover fans can watch it, but compared to the high bar set by other Viz Pictures, I was let down a little bit.

The Honey and Clover DVD will be available on May 13th, 2008.

Funky Forest

Directed by Katsuhito Ishii, Shunichiro Miki, Anikii
Viz Pictures, 150 minutes
Unrated

Funky Forest is a collection of loosely-related short films which run the gamut from boring-slice-of-life to hilarious comedy, from science fiction to dance films; a rock and roll classroom gives way to a story about duel comedians in the far future; disturbing Cronenberg-like creatures appear inexplicably in the second half of the film. The central theme of the shorts is sexual in nature: phallic creatures and lonely men fill the 120+ minutes of screen time. This is the most experimental film in the Viz Pictures catalog so far, and not kid-friendly.

Like any anthology work, I enjoyed some of the shorts much more than others. My favorite shorts were the concert in the forest, the rock and roll high school, and the alien comedy duo Pikko-Rikko-chan. The other 35% of the film I could live without watching again.

Katuhito Ishii started off in animation, so several of the shorts involve characters who work in animation, not unlike the mom subplot in Taste of Tea. Since Funky Forest is weirder, the animation subplot involves a man with a giant head and someone translating for a director who happens to (also) be a dog.

Remember eXistenZ – the 1999 movie with the organic videogame controllers? There’s a lot of stuff like that in Funky Forest. Students in a junior high music class are forced to play frightening organic mutant-alien creature instrument things which are creepily sexual. But it’s OK, because it’s a comedy, I guess…? The creature work is excellent–fetal salarymen with schlongs as long as their legs dangle from weird tentacle things, and you can’t even tell if it’s models or CG or what! Even I’m not sure if this is an endorsement or a warning!

Overall, I got the sense that one of the three directors really wanted to make a full length dance movie. The dance/dream sequence on the beach is the most memorable scene in the movie–but there just wasn’t enough plot to make it into a feature film.

Ishii’s Taste of Tea was an extremely accessible narrative work compared to Funky Forest. Much of the cast of Tea reappears in Funky Forest in central roles. Funky Forest is essentially a v.1.5 sequel for people who want to watch “something else like a that!”

A good film draws you into the world of the film, and is memorable for days afterwards. Funky Forest achieves both of these qualities, and is long enough I was not left wanting more. I kind of wanted less. It was really awesome compared to Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams.

The DVD Funky Forest: The First Contact is currently available.