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Movie
Synopsis:
Junsei Agata is studying to be a restoration expert who specializes
in fine art, working on historical canvases in Florence, Italy.
Through the years Junsei has been unable to forget Aoi, his true
love, the one he had to separate from. He remembers a ten year
old promise they made to meet at a cathedral in Florence on her
30th birthday…
DVD EXTRAS:
- KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None
that I know of
DVD REVIEW:
For
several years I have seen the banner ads of Kelly Chen and Takenouchi
Yutaka on several Japanese websites and I've heard from people
who have seen this movie, how cool it is.
I just finished watching the movie "Calmi Cuori Appassionati"
(Between Calmness and Passion) / (Reisei Jyonetsu No Aida) starring
talented individuals from Japan and Hong Kong such as Takenouchi
Yutaka, Kelly Chen,
Santa Maria Yusuke, Michael Wong, Shinohara Ryoko and much more
and I enjoyed it a lot!!!
The movie is a romantic drama about Junsei (Takenouchi), a talented
artist who pursues a life restoring art for a major art restoration
company in Florence, Italy. He currently works in Italy and has
a relationship with a girl (played by Shinohara Ryoko) who wants
only his attention but doesn't
understand why he doesn't show his love for her. Back in his college
days (1993) in Japan he dated the true love of his life Aoi (Chen)
but to certain circumstances something happened in their relationship
(which is revealed by
time periods of different years throughout the movie). Aoi, who
is currently living in another city in Italy and dating a businessman
(played by HK actor Michael Wong, yes...Asian American star Russell
Wong's brother),
is living her life until one day (1997) at a friend's wedding
she sees Junsei.
What will happen when the former couple finally meet each other
and how will it affect their lives?
The movie which is meant to be shown Internationally at film festivals
features the movie in several languages. Takenouchi Yutaka does
a lot of the voice over's similar to his role in the Japanese
drama "With Love" but communicates with people in Italy
via Italian and also in English and with Aoi in Japanese and in
English. Surprisingly though he spoke a few words, by the pronunciation
of those words, I'm guessing his English is good. As for Kelly
Chen, she communicates via Japanese and in English and we know
that she studied Japanese and went to school in the US and in
Japan and her
ability to speak English is great!
Takenouchi plays his role convincingly and Kelly Chen does a good
job (she looks great in this film), she is getting better with
each movie but she seems a bit distant (I wanted to see a little
more emotion) but they both did a great job. Especially playing
younger versions of themselves. One
thing that is important with these joint collaborations with Japan
and HK is that the chemistry is there. Takenouchi Yutaka and Kelly
Chen have a very good chemistry compared to movies like "Bullets
of Love" starring Leon Lai
and Seto Asaka, "Fulltime Killer" starring Sorimachi
T. and Kelly Lin or "China Strike Force" with Aaron
Kwok and Fujiwara Norika. So, the chemistry between the two was
quite enjoyable to watch but I wish their was a bit more
passion.
As for the other talent:
Yusuke Santamaria plays Junsei's buddy who blabs a lot and has
different girlfriends all the time. He is a talented actor but
my feeling is that he's in this movie to pull more Japanese viewers
to watch this film. His role is a bit minor.
As for Shinohara Ryoko, she had to do a lot. First, let me just
say that I'm happy to see how her acting has evolved since her
early drama days such as "Wakamono no Subete" and "Gift".
In this film, she had to pull of a sex scene (not graphic but
you know what she's preparing to do, with Ranma 1/2 playing in
the background) and of course an emotional scene later in the
movie.
Michael Wong is always the HK pick for the Hk/foreigner guy as
evidenced in the recent movie "Women From Mars" but
he does a good job playing his role as the supportive & rich
boyfriend who has a girlfriend that never opens up
to him.
The movie is pretty good. The acting is not top notch but the
presentation of the movie is very well done. With beautiful romantic
films such as "My Sassy Girl", "Il Mare",
"and I hate you so", it's great to see a romantic movie
that features a joint collaboration with Japan and Hong Kong actors.
With a beautiful soundtrack with music by Enya and beautiful scenery
of Italy really made this movie quite enjoyable for me.
The DVD is available for a great price at $10.99 and includes
a DTS track. Please not that you need to have an all-region player
for this DVD because it's a Region 3.
http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx?pid=1001838569
&did=0&code=c§ion=vi
deos&
kndy
Here
is the soundtrack info:
2001
Themes From Calmi Cuori Appassionati
pan 2001 WEA WPCR-11006
Seven Enya tracks appear in the Japanese film Reisei To Jyonetsu
No Aida (Calmi Cuori Appassionati) which is based on a novel by
Tsuji Hitonari and Ekuni Kaori: the English translation of the
title is Between Calmness and
Passion. The album includes the tracks used in the film plus seven
others, and no previously unreleased material is featured.
1. Wild Child
2. Caribbean Blue
3. Book Of Days (English Lyric)
4. Afer Ventus
5. Watermark
6. Orinoco Flow
7. The Celts
8. Once You Had Gold
9. Triad
10. Anywhere Is (Edit)
11. Fairytale
12. Evening Falls...
13. Song Of The Sandman (Lullaby)
14. The Promise
THE MOVIE: A
THE DVD EXTRAS: B-
THE DVD OVERALL: B+
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