#nonami maho

[redsamuraiii]

The "delinquent" supporting characters that are rough on the outside but are actually sweet on the inside.

Riho Nakamura in From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke (2023) Maho Nonami in Please Love Me (2016) Miho Shiraishi in Train Man : Densha Otoko (2005) Yumi Adachi in A Story to Read When You First Fall in Love (2019)

[moviesludge]

galentines

[twilightronin]

2LDK

[gregor-samsung]

浅田家! [The Asadas] (Ryōta Nakano, 2020)

[stuff-diary]

Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight

Movies watched in 2024

Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight (2022, Japan)

Director: Takahiro Miki

Writers: Hana Matsumoto & Sho Tsukikawa (based on the novel by Misaki Ichijo)

Mini-review:

Takahiro Miki is so good at making these romance movies with tragic undertones. Sure, this one doesn't break any new ground, but it's still very enjoyable. And it's visually gorgeous, exactly as I expected from this director: the atmosphere in his films always feels like a warm hug. The two leads also do a pretty good job, and their chemistry is definitely great. That being said, Kotone Furukawa steals the movie in terms of acting, and I wish her character had been explored a bit more. Anyway, I'd definitely recommend Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight to any fan of Japanese romances with a tragic twist.

[jigokucinema]

2LDK (2003) Japan

Hoping to land a role, two Japanese actresses (Eiko Koike, Maho Nonami) begin a fight that keeps escalating within an apartment.

[fytaem]

{170824} ファイナルライフ Final Life — Even if you're gone tomorrow (official)

[cinemaronin]

2LDK (2003)

2LDK (2003)  directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi cinematography by Satoru Karasawa

[anamon-book]

月刊 野波麻帆 写真：平間至 SHINCHO MOOK 新潮社

[redsamuraiii]

Bitter Blood (Ep 5)

🤣

I mean, all the girls want Takeru Satoh. 😏

[dare-g]

2LDK (2003)

[iforgottohitplay]

2LDK (2003)

[japanfilmclub]

Begging for Love (1998) 『愛を乞うひと』 Written by Wui Sin Chong 鄭義信 Directed by Hideyuki Hirayama 平山秀幸

[gregor-samsung]

浅田家! [The Asadas] (Ryōta Nakano, 2020)

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/17/2021: 2LDK

I hate JENNIFER'S BODY.

There, I said it.

I mean, actually I've said it elsewhere too, and at greater length, but its seemingly universal embrace by the horror community at large makes me want to say it again and again. I think the appeal is supposed to be the "subversion of expectations" ostensibly represented by antihero Jennifer being sexually rapacious instead of weak and submissive, even though this quality also marks her as an evil, disgusting freak who needs to be destroyed. And, as far as such expectations go, I find that JENNIFER'S BODY doubles down on tired sexist stereotypes about female relationships, describing them as inherently competitive—revolving around jealous, catty fights over boys—and inherently erotic, where the price of passing the Bechdel test is the insistence that women who like each other secretly hate each other, and their hatred is inflamed by how badly they secretly want to fuck each other. I don't find any of that liberating, and I doubt I would even if I didn't find the characters so obnoxious and unlikeable. But, when I catch myself assuming that a film is trying to tell me what real life is like, or how it should be, I have to stop and question myself. Is it really useful to see every movie as a manifesto that either describes or prescribes who we are and how we live? If that were the case, I should be a lot more concerned about the alleged messaging of movies that I really deeply love, including 2LDK.

I do not understand why this film hasn't grown more famous with time. As far as I can tell, the 2003 festival darling hasn't even had a proper blu-ray release yet. It was conceived as part of a diptych called The Duel Project, the result of a drunken wager between directors Yukihiko Tsutsumi and Ryuhei Kitamura regarding who could make the best fight film. Kitamura offered up ARAGAMI, a 78 minute samurai battle as slick as it is dull. Tsutsumi's counter was 2LDK, a savage black comedy about two actresses competing for a major film role, and winning the "that escalated quickly" sweepstakes. I've seen it a hundred times, and I'll see it a hundred more.

Ambitious bumpkin Nozomi (Eiko Koike) and sleazy softcore star Lana (Maho Nonami) book into a 2LDK apartment—that's 2 bedroom/living room/dining room/kitchen—while awaiting word of which of them scored the female lead in a movie called YAKUZA WIVES. The apartment itself is usually reserved for the mistress of the boss at their shared talent agency, a fact that sets the stage for this tale of feminine competition. Despite her sexed up bravado, Lana is haunted by past crimes against other women, while Nozomi is privately nagged by the fear that she may have been a big fish in the small pond of her rural home, but small fry in Tokyo. As these two opposing personalities clash, egged on by their insecurities, an inevitable romantic rivalry adds fuel to a growing fire that eventually explodes into shocking violence.

At only 70 minutes, 2LDK is sleek and efficient, swiftly building out two convincingly complex characters that help elevate the story above the level of a snide joke about womanly vanity. The script from Tsutsumi and Yuiko Miura crackles with cruel humor, and costars Koike and Nonami know exactly what to do with it. The results are as clever as they are viscerally exciting—and misogynist enough to give Erich Von Stroheim a boner, but who cares when the characters are so compelling, and the carnage so satisfying? In less capable hands, a story about two women killing each other over fame, fortune, and a boyfriend might be more of a drag, but 2LDK is pure entertainment from tip to tail. It may not have garnered the grrrl power clout of JENNIFER'S BODY, but it beats that movie to death with its superior performances and sadomasochistic thrills. Not all movies have to match up with our politics; they just have to make us feel something, preferably something good. And if 2LDK is any indication, nothing feels better than beating someone's ass into the ground.

[spockvarietyhour]