The problem with modern Japanese production

 As someone who watches mostly Japanese movies and shows from around 1990 to 2010, I also like to watch recently released movies and shows. But the thing is, these days movies and shows don't really hit the same as the old gems. And I might be biased because of my love for 'older' productions, but some things just have to be said.

I would like to note that I'm not saying that all movies and shows these days are bad, but there is certainly a pattern that distinguishes the 'good' ones from the 'bad' ones.

Contrast (2026)

Let's start off with the good ones. A thing I see a lot in specifically Japanese productions is the color scheme. Japanese movies and shows often have this soft and muted look which gives them very aesthetically pleasing visuals. I think that the signature Japanese production visuals really make them stand out when you compare them to other East-Asian movies or shows. Another thing I can add to that is the acting. One thing I really like is how subtle the acting is in most cases, it comes off as natural and it looks really convincing. But the problem is, I would say that only 40% of the newly released movies and shows actually have these (and more) positive qualities. It's either done really well, or not well at all.

Something I notice with these newer productions is the poor casting. For the record, this is not targeted toward a specific actor or actress. But the thing is, what you see often is that they're casting idols to take the lead role instead of local talents. The Japanese idol industry is not really my field of interest, but in Japan these performers are huge, they have gigantic fan bases and sell out these immense stadiums. With that already existing popularity, you can attract a lot of attention to your newest project, which makes sense but it comes at the expense of the acting quality. I also think that in most cases it's the directors' instruction to make them act in a certain way. Most of the time with the intent to come off as funny and light-weighted, which doesn't have to be a bad thing in itself. But I have seen so many good movies and shows with idols as main characters so being an idol doesn't equal being a bad actor. The bigger problem might be the attempt to make the audience laugh by making actors use these unnecessary big expressions. 

Nobody Knows (2004)

Another problem is the lack of a budget for independent film makers. This used to be different, in the earlier years of the 21st century, independent film makers were able to make movies (and shows, but i'll just say movies for now) and be able to afford it because of the large community of film makers and people willing to invest. The difference with now is that most movies and shows are produced by big entertainment companies. These companies have a really big budget, all the resources and an already existing audience. That makes it extremely difficult for independent film makers to compete with these companies. So it might seem like Japanese indie movies don't exist anymore, but in reality they just remain unknown in the shadows of big entertainment companies. 

A new phenomenon I keep seeing more and more are these so-called vertical dramas. It might sound weird but it's exactly what the name says, dramas that are filmed vertically. With social media and short form content, a lot of people are craving small 1-3 minute episode dramas they can just scroll through. Apparently, 20 minute episodes are too long for people's attention spans and so production companies decided to play into that. I personally see a lot of problems with that, because dramas are losing all of it's artistic creativity and beautiful cinematography. 

But despite everything, Japanese BL's never miss (okay that's actually not true, but there are still a lot of good ones out there) and Koreeda is still actively making masterpieces so it's better to just enjoy and appreciate all the great work and to support all the talented directors and actors. 

Here is a list of relatively new movies I would recommend:

• 10Dance (2025, Tomoko Yoshida)
• Monster (2023, Koreeda Hirokazu)
• My Broken Mariko (2022, Tanada Yuki)
• Drawing Closer (2024, Tomoko Yoshida)
• Love Punch! (2026, Kawasaki Ryo)
• Call Me Chihiro (2023, Imaizumi Rikiya)

Ryosuke Hashiguchi and Japanese queer film

One of the best directors for LGBTQ+ movies from Japan is Ryosuke Hashiguchi. I have watched some of his movies and I was blown away by the beautiful story telling. Hashiguchi made his directing debut in 1981 with the movie 'Lala...' and has continued to release masterpiece after masterpiece. What made him special is his approach towards the queer community in the beginning of the 90s. That was very unusual at the time, because the LGBTQ+ community was still very looked down upon and movies with such topics were either stereotypical or didn't exist at all. Most of the queer themed movie from the 90s never made it big (and in my opinion weren't really representative for the queer community). But since the 90s, LGBTQ+ themed movies and shows have had a huge increase in quantity. Movies with a high budget production are still quite rare but the drama's are really filling the void. Japanese BL (Boys Love) is a huge genre within Japanese media and loved by a big audience. I personally really really love Japanese BL so I would love to write about that if there's anyone interested. 

I really want to highlight two movies by Hashiguchi that really left a great impact on
me and I think they are extremely underrated. 

A Touch of Fever was released back in 1993. The story follows Tatsuru and Shinichiro, they both work as hustlers and they are mainly booked by older men. Throughout the movie, we see both of them struggling with identity, acceptance and their work. What I really liked about it was the fact that we saw two characters in pretty much the same situation but dealing with it so differently. The older one (Tatsuru) pushes his feelings away to make his job bearable, however, the younger one (Shinchiro) feels a growing discomfort with his job after he falls in love with Tatsuru. Altough there isn't that much of a plot, it's still very interesting and both their dynamic and the one with their friends are very well-written. I also really like the colors and camerawork that the movie has.

The other movie I want to talk about is in my opinion even better than the one I just discussed. Like Grains of Sand (yes, I referenced it in the title of my blog) was released two years after A Touch of Fever and actually has quite some similarities, but is still significantly different. The movie is about love, longing, acceptance and so much more. The main characters have trouble being themselves and throughout two-third of the movie they were hiding their true selves to avoid being mistreated by others. The last part of the movie is a perfect ending that will give you a great sense of satisfaction because they finally open up and face themselves. The characters are all written so beautifully and the visuals were stunning. 

It's so fascinating to see such good understanding of queer people in the 90s and both of these movies really show what LGBTQ+ people have to deal with, which is great to get people to think more open-minded. I really hope that these movies will receive more love and that it will make people in similar situations feel seen and heard.

Some other movies with similar topics that I would highly recommend:

- 10Dance (2025, Yoshida Tomoko)

- Kira Kira Hikaru (1992, Matsuko Joji)

- Kokoro (2025, Nakagawa Ryutaro)

- Monster (2023, Koreeda Hirokazu)

- Your Name Engraved Herein (2020, Chu Yu Ning) (not Japanese but really worth mentioning)

Please let me know if there are any other LGBTQ+ Japanese movies, because it's been a really tough search to find movies with such topics that I haven't watched yet (please check my watchlist to see which ones I have watched). 

Until next time,

MoLiHua

All About Lily Chou Chou suddenly went viral, 19 years after its release, but is still misunderstood and underappreciated

 All About Lily Chou Chou (I will use AALCC to refer to the title for this post) got released all the way back in 2001, but only gained popularity starting somewhere around 2020. When the movie was released it wasn't nearly as known as it is today (especially outside of Japan) and it's all thanks to social media.

 Scenes from the movie started gaining attention on platforms like Tiktok for its beautiful cinematography and aesthetic. However, many people misunderstood the movie or simply took the viral clips out of context (for example, romanticizing Yuichi and Tsuda's situation and commenting 'us' even though they have no idea what the characters are going through and what their dynamic is). Obviously, the media attention is well deserved because AALCC is truly an amazing movie (I might go more in-depth on its significance in a future post) but the art isn't properly appreciated and people are completely ignoring the message. 

On Tiktok there are many people saying that the movie was 'boring' and 'not worth the hype', and I couldn't disagree more. The boring part most likely has something to do with a so-called attention span but I honestly don't think you could call this movie boring. The characters have a lot going on and are developing throughout the movie. Japanese movies from the 2000s are usually quite subtle and nuanced, which might not be everyone's cup of tea, so I guess it's all personal preference in the end. I think the big difference between the people that liked it and the people that didn't is if they understood the movie or not. Despite it being a little bit complicated or vague sometimes, it's pretty clear that we are watching a group of troubled teens that are struggling with self-worth, bullying, etc. and some of which seek comfort in Lily's music and the fan community. Not only is the story beautiful, the visuals are seriously outstanding. The use of light is so brilliant, it creates these beautiful silhouettes or heaven-like backgrounds. The locations also add so much to it, the rice fields create this dreamy atmosphere and the rural hometown of the characters make it seem very simple and calm despite everything that's happening. The camerawork really gives it this perfect indie-film look and the hand held camera shots make it all look very personal and raw. And maybe the part I love most (apart from the use of light) has got to be the music. The original soundtrack and the album Kokyuu by Lily Chou-Chou really did their part for this movie. It fits the atmosphere perfectly and Slayu's vocals are the perfect embodiment of Lily Chou-Chou and the Ether.

Another thing that makes everything super interesting is all the background information/lore that this movie has. The director Shunji Iwai started a project on a BBS with some random people on the internet. They were pretty much role playing as Lily Chou-Chou fans and the whole story originated from there on. I'm assuming that Lily was made up by the same group of people (or the director made it up, idk). And so all the people in the BBS became characters in the novel. The novel is not much different from the movie but the format is very different. The novel is basically all the messages from the BBS and the last part is Yuichi explaining everything including Hoshino's death. A lot of elements from the story were inspired by events that were happening at the time, such as an economical crisis, the rise of the internet as a way for people to connect and increasing numbers of suicide by teens. The whole fictional world around Lily Chou-Chou is super interesting and cool!

If you are interested in more information about the movie, I will link a document of the 'AALCC iceberg explained' (all credits to the person who wrote it): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fh-8JJ-IRD3VzdmjpSEq9CiGVBOoKZD7l0cVJ6ZvH0Q/edit?tab=t.0

I also really really recommend reading the novel if you watched the movie, it really helps giving more clarity and it made me appreciate the movie even more: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fh-8JJ-IRD3VzdmjpSEq9CiGVBOoKZD7l0cVJ6ZvH0Q/edit?tab=t.0

Also please leave a comment if you liked this post or if you have questions, and feedback is much appreciated!

Until next time,

MoLiHua

A quick note i wrote for some movies i watched

 I always write a note after I finished watching a movie so I thought it might be fun to share some of them before writing in-depth reviews or analysis. Keep in mind that I am not a professional movie critic and this is all mostly for fun. Also, I will only include some Japanese movies for now.

A Touch of Fever (Hashiguchi Ryosuke, 1993): I really need some time to reflect on this movie. I really liked the acting and the vintage look it has, which isn't surprising for it's release year. But it's actually a really sad story with an ending that's
not much different from the beginning.

After Life (Koreeda Hirokazu, 1998): And again, another beautiful movie by Kore-eda. I love the whole concept of the movie so much, it's so interesting and beautiful. The fact that it's based on interviews with real people makes it so much more special.

All about Lily Chou Chou (Iwai Shunji, 2001): Crazy experience, it was kinda confusing at first but I ended up really loving the story, despite having some error sometimes. The cinematography was insanely good and it became a huge muse over time. I also really like how they portrayed certain themes in it. Overall very inspiring in a cinematography sense and something you won't forget easily. Another update: after reading the novel + re-watching I'm definitely not confused anymore.

Call Me Chihiro (Imaizumi Rikiya, 2023): Very soft an healing, however it was kinda boring and the plot was a bit vague, but still a fun watch. (I will be reading a few articles to have a better understanding of the movie so don't mind any harsh words please)

Hana & Alice (Iwai Shunji, 2004): I don't have much to say about it because it was simply beautiful and fun. It was very light-weighted and didn't really include darker themes which makes it a very comforting watch. The acting was really great and especially the visuals were amazing. The colors, the locations and the angles were really really nice.

Himizu (Sono Sion, 2012): Oh my goodness. This is such a masterpiece, however, it does weight really heavy on the heart. The themes were executed so amazingly, there's way too much to talk about. The acting is literally insane and the messages were very clear even though they weren't explicitly said.

Kira Kira Hikaru (Matsuoka Joji, 1992): Wow wow wow. Such a good movie omg. One thing i really appreciated is how Mutsuki stayed true to himself for the most part. But seriously such a good movie and it's hard to believe it came out in 1992 because it's so open-minded. I really really liked this, it was so beautiful.

Kokoro (Nakagawa Ryutaro, 2025): Such a beautiful and sad story. I did enjoy it but it was quite a heavy watch and the ending wasn't a happy one in my opinion. But that doesn't mean it's bad, the acting was insanely good and the production itself was surprisingly nice!

License to Live (Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 1998): Although it feels like I didn't completely understand it, I still really loved watching this movie. I especially loved the character writing and the beautiful cinematography. I would say the movie is very human and I like that.

Like Grains of Sand (Hashiguchi Ryosuke, 1995): I loved this so so much. This is the queer cinema that I appreciate the most, the beautiful way of character writing, the amazing story-line and beautiful composition. It reminded me of Your Name Engraved Herein which is a huge compliment.

Maborosi (Koreeda Hirokazu, 1995): Such a beautiful movie. The cinematography is outstanding, every single scene was so pretty. I love the way Koreeda portrayed death, it's done so amazingly. I also really liked the music and the overall sounds that were used. Over all a very beautiful movie that makes you feel a little melancholic.

Monster (Koreeda Hirokazu, 2023): So healing. Such a beautiful, yet confusing story. I love their friendship and I would most definitely love a bl with the main characters in the future. Update: I just re-watched it and wow! This movie is genuinely such a masterpiece, the pace of time really makes it interesting and the cinematography is outstanding! The actors are so insanely talented and the story is straight up beautiful.

My Broken Mariko (Tanada Yuki, 2022): First of all the composition was very very good, like it was visually amazing. But I can't lie, this movie broke me. It's mostly because of personal connection but also the fact that it portrays very heavy topics and they did it so painfully beautiful and realistic. I genuinely cried my eyes out watching this but it was worth all my tears.    

Nobody Knows (Koreeda Hirokazu, 2004): This movie is made 

by one of my favorite directors and it's a perfect example of how beautiful his works are. It's such a sad story but the characters rarely reflect on the sad event which gives this a very bittersweet feeling. Again beautiful cinematography (like all his works), it really inspires me. Despite not much happening, I never got bored while watching.

One Million Yen Girl (Tanada Yuki, 2008): Such a beautiful movie. It was very different from what I expected but I really liked it! It had this sense of comfort but at the same time also had some darker themes which made a great balance.

Shoplifters (Koreeda Hirokazu, 2018): What a beautiful story. The movie felt so complete and well done. I loved how they had such a strong family dynamic even though they aren't all blood related. The only thing I didn't like was some scenes with nudity but apart from that I loved every second.

Welcome to my blog!

                                                              (My Broken Mariko, directed by Tanada Yuki, 2022)

 Hi! I am Mo Li Hua and from today on forward, I will occasionally write on this blog about one of my favorite things in the world: Japanese Cinema. I'll start off by introducing myself a little bit. I am currently in my last year of Higher General Secondary-Education which means that I will have to make a choice in my future career options. Since I have a deep love and admiration for Japanese movies, I figured my dream career path would be film making, and specifically in Japanese productions. I honestly don't know where my love for Japanese cinema started but I know for a fact that it has made a long lasting impact on me and most of them shaped me to who I am today. Please check out my watchlist on MyDramaList, because i track all the movies and series I watch on there + I made a few lists with my favorite directors and actors, etc. My taste does go far beyond Japanese movies so I might try writing about music, anime or BL too. But for now I want to focus on my favorite Japanese movies. Please leave a comment if you have any questions about me or my blog!

Until next time,

Mo Li Hua

https://mydramalist.com/dramalist/molihua038 (my watchlist)