Follow the Light

The story is about a group of students in a school at the countryside that is closing down.

Liked the nice birds eye view of the rural scenery! Thought the mosaic drawing would look better if the individual portraits were smaller.

To be honest, I was half imagining a Melancholia type of ending when the students gathered at the window to see the light from outer space. That would tie in to the drawings done by the boy. Was also a bit disappointed that there were not more items at the school closing ceremony. Maybe the girl could have sung her song then?

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A Muse Never Drowns

The story is about the friendship among a group of Japanese art students. One of them painted a portrait of another girl while that girl did a sculpture of a boat using recycled materials.

Liked the interesting soundtrack when the girl was making the boat! Also liked the scene where the three girls were describing their fears to each other!

Hey! Our dear Don-chan

The story is about how three men looked after a baby who suddenly appeared at their doorstep.

Thought this was like a Japanese version of Three Men and a Baby except that it is slower paced! Learned a bit more about how actors auditioned for their roles. Was pleasantly surprised by the easter egg after the credits.

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Lonely Glory

The story is about how a family of four siblings coped after their parents passed away.

Liked the interaction among the siblings and how the youngest sister learned more about herself and her siblings as the film progressed! Almost thought that she would take over the shop but the open ending was pretty nice too!

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Wish Dragon

The story is about a young man's encounter with a dragon that grants its master three wishes.

Liked the front part of the movie that introduced the two good friends! Thought it was quite impossible for the young girl to not recognize her old friend though.

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Ballerina

The story is about two orphans pursuing their dreams after escaping from the orphanage.

Liked the amazing dance sequences and how Odette trained Felicie! She was like a kungfu master teaching her student!

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The Summit of the Gods

The story is about an avid mountain climber who is obsessed with climbing mountains and a journalist who tries to undercover the reason behind his obsession.

Liked the nice mountain scenery! Quite amazed by how they almost climbed vertically up the mountain through special boots!

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Aiko

The story is about a day in the life of a group of young Japanese who worked in a bakery.

Liked the insider view of the bakery and the interesting sound effects that don't quite match what is shown on the screen. The film reminds me a bit of Masculin Feminin by Godard where the young people were referred to as the children of Marx and Coca-Cola.

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House

The story is about what happened when seven friends visited an aunt's house during the summer vacation.

Liked the interesting special effects! Was quite worried that it would be super scary but it was not as bad as I imagined.

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List

The story is about a young woman making a list of things that she wanted to do at a hotel with her mum.

Liked how the director made a coherent plot based on the seemingly random list of things! The interaction among the three characters was pretty interesting too!

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Beijing Watermelon

The story is about how a Japanese grocer went beyond his means to help a group of poor Chinese students in the late 1980s.

Liked the nice Chinese song and William Tell overture music sprinkled in the film! Was a bit puzzled why they didn't go physically to Beijing but realized the reason when I saw the date they were supposed to go.

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Children Who Draw

This is a documentary about art lessons in Japan during the 1950s.

Liked the nice art drawings and clay sculptures by the children! It was interesting to see how the childrens' drawings reflected how they were feeling that day!

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A Taxi Driver

The story is about how a Korean taxi driver drove a German journalist from Seoul to Gwangju to cover the Gwangju uprising in 1980.

Quite surprised that this was based on real events as it seemed unbelievable that the duo would make it safely to Gwangju and back! Great acting by Song Kang Ho as the taxi driver! I have seen him in many other Korean films!

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Stand by Me

The story is about how four friends went on an adventure to find the dead body of a stranger.

Liked the strong friendship among them and how they stood by each other in the face of danger, whether is it a train chasing after them, leeches biting them or bigger boys threatening them!

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The Wandering Earth

The story is about how the people in the world had to make earth wander out of its usual orbit and travel for many years to another place to save it from destruction.

Liked the final part of the film where everyone was trying their best to save the world! Most of the places looked quite similar though, so I couldn't tell them apart.

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The Menu

The story is about a group of diners having an expensive dinner at an island but many unexpected things happened along the way.

Liked the twists and turns in the film! I couldn't predict what would come next! I thought the bread dish was the most ridiculous!

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Never Rarely Sometimes Always

The story is about how a young girl travelled to New York with her cousin to abort her baby.

Liked the friendship between the cousins and the scene that explained what the title was all about!

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When Marnie Was There

The story is about how a shy little girl made friends with another little girl called Marnie.

Liked the friendship between the two girls! The final portion where they slowly revealed the identity of Marnie was pretty exciting in my opinion!

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Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical

The story is about how a smart little girl survived studying in a school with a very fierce principal.

Liked the nice songs that blended well with the plot! Thought it was pretty interesting how fiction mixed with reality!

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Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's New Dinosaur

The story is about how Nobita tried to send his pet dinosaur back to the time where he belonged.

Liked how hard the dinosaur trained to learn how to fly! An exciting adventure!

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