Last Quarter (2004)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

If it was not that ending I should vote with 10. I really liked the movie, actors, playing, story... But is that some kind of a joke? They reborn to be together and she chose the other boy? How that? If I understand right love is beyond everything, she knew his song from the very beginning, she died for him, and she suddenly chose the other one. It's not fair. "You will find me again, promise? Till I'm playing with someone else you will wait for another eternity 'till I get tired and come back to you." Well, I realised Japanese movies are quite good and actually I missed a lot not watching them. My bad. I think they should make more scenes with Adam and Mizuki, we actually can't see their strong bound, only a few scenes from their memories. And I really liked the song, it was pretty good for the movie. All I can say it worth the watch.

Kagen no Tsuki might appear really strange/slow/targeted to fangirls only, but I think it would be unfair to underestimate it so much. Even if it's a movie inspired to a manga, and with a singer as one of the actors, in my opinion, it's not bad. It has its very annoying moments, anyway... - Spoiler alert - The very start is quite slow and makes it look like some romantic crap for teenagers, but if you can get after the birthday scene and the small "tragedies" striking Mizuki, it gets quite interesting later, if you're a person who likes ghost stories, reincarnation and romantic things. It's not a GREAT film, one of these movies that will make you clap your hands and talk about it to everyone you know, but it grants a good time anyway, especially to people who is more used to Japanese culture in general.The story is very sad, and a bit too much "romantic" sometimes, like a fairy tale... but some scenes are really well-designed. Spoiler alert 2 - At the very end of the movie, and the titles... you can see both Mizuki and Adam on a boat. That scene is still stuck in my mind. As the "gate" of the house, as symbol to the gate from limbo to the world of dead is another thing I can't forget. Sometimes, when I see a girl handing a present to someone, I immediately remember Sayaka.Maybe a part of me still likes fairy-tales.

*this review MAY contain a spoiler*Kagen No Tsuki (English Title: Last Quarter) is a welcome and well executed modern fairytale of two tragic love stories accidentally mixed up. Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill) does a wonderful job playing Mizuki and the supporting cast perform equally well if not outperform her in several moments. However I did not care much for Japanese pop idol Hyde playing the English rock star Adam (with an English accent so bad it is virtually impossible to understand the man). But the true strength of this film lies in it's storytelling. The atmosphere that Ken Nikai creates, the decors, the colors, the costumes, the lighting: they are simply all perfect. It is hard to get into the story without giving away any clues but in short, without any spoilers to the plot: Mizuki is bored with her life and moves in with a British musician named Adam, in a rather sinister looking house. As soon as Adam tells her he is going away she runs after him to join him. However she is hit by a car. Suddenly and without explanation Mizuki finds herself trapped in the old house, where she meets a girl who is looking for her cat. When Mizuki helps her find the cat the girl disappears in front of her very eyes,.. and somewhere in a hospital the girl (named Hotaru) wakes up in a hospital bed. All she remembers is getting hit by a car when she was looking for her cat, and a girl in her dreams who helped her find her cat and woke her up in the real world. This is where the story starts when Hotaru sets out to find a way to help solve Mizuki's mystery and why she is trapped inside the house.In short? A delightfully different and wonderfully made film from Japan. It is hard to find anything wrong with this film. Go see it if you have a chance! (This review is based on the recently released Japanese DVD with English subtitles which is a stunning release in terms of image quality, sound and subtitle quality).

OK, I bought the Region 2 English Subtitled DVD of this movie and, first of all, I need to say that the subtitling was excellent despite several minor flaws along the way. Second of all, this film had some of the best special effects I've seen in a Japanese movie in a long time, far superior to those of the live-action Zeiram and Boogiepop films.Third, the acting is superb. Chiaki Kuriyama plays Mizuki and Eve well, and Hyde (despite his bad English accent) plays Adam well. However, the film lies more with the characters of Hotaru, Miura, and Tomoki in their quest to help Eve from her entrapment in the house.I only had a few small problems with the experience, but they did not take too much away from the film; the most major of these is a break in the flow caused by a short interlude explaining the meaning of Kagen no Tsuki, the "Last Quarter Moon," that feels almost completely out of place. Outside of this and a few small instances, the film was excellent and convincing.Although some segments of the trailer make the movie seem slightly on the ridiculous side at times, the extreme emotions (mostly Tomoki, Mizuki's boyfriend, screaming) are accounted for well in the film, being extremely appropriate when they actually appear.Overall, it was the best movie I've seen in years, with the most constant universe held within it. The characters and their circumstances feel real throughout the entire film. The first A+ film I've watched in years, and the most real. I can hardly wait to watch it again!