MovieChat Forums > Hana to Arisu (2004) Discussion > Compare to other Shunji movies?

Compare to other Shunji movies?

posted 19 years ago by phageous
22 replies | jump to latest

My rank:

1. All About Lily Chou-chou
2. Swallowtail Butterfly
3. Hana to Alice
4. Love Letter
5. April Story

Not that I don't like April Story. It's still a great movie comparing to other movies I have seen. Lily chou-chou is still by far my favorite Shunji movie.

Hana to Alice is an easy feel of joy. It is a movie one can keep smiling from the beginning to the end.

I have a feeling the next movie of Shunji Iwai would be a emotional heavy and depressing one. Maybe this is his pattern, switching from heavy and light tunes movie by movie. Definitely worthy waiting.

[–] nihonniboku 19 years ago

I'd say that's a pretty close to how I feel, but still a little off. Mine goes...

1. Swallowtail Butterfly - Genius, enough said. I only wish it had the same visuals as Lily Chou-Chou and not shot on a handheld camera.

2. All About Lily Chou-Chou - A close second. This one manages to make you feel as depressed as the kids in the movie do, and as a result, it can be hard to watch too frequently. That's the only reason why its not number one for me.

3. Love Letter - The more I watch this, the more I love it. Its so subtle, so it wasn't one of my favorites at first, but it has really grown on me.

4. Hana & Alice - This was probably my toughest choice, putting it at number 4 instead of number 3. Gorgeous visuals, and very funny, but it doesn't stick with you like Love Letter does.

5. Picnic - Short, but good. I like this one. Maybe because Chara is in it.

6. Arita - Really short. Cute. Different. I like it, but the sequence when Arita is running around the room is way too long and I end up fast forwarding through that scene when I watch it.

7. April Story - A distant seventh. While an enjoyable movie, I'm not entirely sure why Shunji Iwai chose to have this one be his follow up to Swallowtail Butterfly. It seems out of place. This is the kind of thing that I would've expected to be much much earlier in his career. Not after he's already had hits like Love Letter and Swallowtail Butterfly under his belt.

8. Undo - His first movie. I don't like it. Watching it doesn't, you wouldn't think that his future movies would be as wonderful as they are.

I can't wait for his next movie. Any news on what he is working on?

[–] gem_gurl 19 years ago

1. All About Lily Chou-Chou: My introduction to Iwai so perhaps it holds some sentimental value. Gorgeous cinematography and soundtrack.

2. Swallowtail Butterfly: This movie moves through so many different emotions and manages to be shocking and humorous at the same time. I love Fei-hong's character and I love how the film is in 3 languages.

3. Undo: The cinematography and imagery are gorgeous in this movie, it is such a pleasure to watch. It reminds me of Björk's song "Unravel".

4. Picnic: I was really shocked by this one and had no idea what was going to happen with any of the characters. He definitely worked the element of surprise. I loved Coco as a crow.

5. April Story: I thought this was a sweet story but it has been a while since I have seen it.

6. Love Letter: I have only seen it once and it has been a while but I recently bought the DVD so maybe it will grow on me too.

I can't wait to see Hana and Alice and whatever else Iwai has in the works.

[–] Liz-90 19 years ago

Love Letter will always be my favorite (unless he does something really really awesome) because that was the first movie I saw, and if I hadn't seen it I might never have been introduced to the Iwai world... other than that I like Lily, Swallowtail, and H&A... his shorter works are a kind of jumble, I like them all, but couldn't rank them...

I do recommend his shorter made for TV works... Ghost Soup, Uchiage Hanabi, etc... Fried Dragon Fish is cute too.

As for new works... he has a radio program that is serializing some radio dramas... haven't listened to it recently but something could come from that... apparently he gets all his best ideas for movies during the new year's holidays, so maybe something came out of that this year :)

I wonder how long it will take him... considering his long time partner (not that kind of partner, he's married with kids... I mean collaborator), cinematographer Shinoda Noboru died last June... he's filmed all of Iwai's movies since "Undo"... That was his voice in the scene where Alice is standing in for Kano Mika (with the butterflies)... It is rare that one sheds tears while watching the making of a film, but I think he is featured all the more prominently in the making of H&A because he died before the DVD came out... <sniff sniff>

I really need to listen to that radio program... missed almost an entire interview/chat session with Osawa Takao... So Iwai is far from inactive... his website is more active than usual...

[–] gem_gurl 19 years ago

I just watched Love Letter and April Story again tonight and I have to change my order! Actually, I think it is difficult to rate the movies against each other because April Story, Love Letter and Undo have such a different tone from the other ones I have seen. Now, I don't know how I forgot about Love Letter but I liked it a lot the second time around. Now I have to order Hana and Alice!

[–] Liz-90 19 years ago

The "special" edition of H&A is slightly more expenisve but its got the long making part (with Shinoda... I always pictured him older... don't know why), and the original webcast shorts of the movie (watch those first... it's interesting to see what Iwai did in filling out the short version...)

Anyway, its still available at Amazon.jp so I fully recommend it :) (And from HK http://www.dvdasian.com/cgi-bin/dvdasian/18398.html... cheaper, with Eng subs... region 3)

[–] mac_alain 19 years ago

The "special" edition of H&A is slightly more expenisve but its got the long making part (with Shinoda... I always pictured him older... don't know why), and the original webcast shorts of the movie (watch those first... it's interesting to see what Iwai did in filling out the short version...)

No, watch them after you have seen the movie, otherwise you will know too much of the story beforehand. My 2 cts.

[–] Sjekster 19 years ago

I'm sooo pissed right now that I can't understand that much Japanese, because I really want to understand those shorts :(. Too bad extra's on Asian dvd's rarely have English subs :(

[–] Sjekster 19 years ago

I'm sooo pissed right now that I can't understand that much Japanese, because I really want to understand those shorts :(. Too bad extra's on Asian dvd's rarely have English subs :(

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] hfz-2 18 years ago

here is my ranking..

1. all about lily chou2
2. love letter
3. hana & alice
4. swallowtail butterfly
5. april's story

although i must say the first 4 are really close.. any one of them could be in my number 1. they're just that great..

i've seen fried dragon fish and hated it so much. it's just horrible and you can't believe he's the same person who made all these beautiful movies. but it shows how much he's improved over the years..

[–] okayenid 18 years ago

1 all about lily chou-chou
2 hana and alice
3 april story
4 swallowtail butterfly
5 love letter
6 picnic

one of my fave directors!

[–] cobratriangle 18 years ago

1) All About Lily Chou Chou
2) Love Letter
3) Hana & Alice
4) April Story
5) Swallowtail Butterfly
6) Picnic

[–] okayenid 16 years ago

hmmm almost two years since i posted my list, i feel almost the same - a slight change though

1 all about lily chou-chou
2 hana and alice
3 swallowtail butterfly
4 april story
5 love letter
6 fireworks
7 picnic

i also really liked his documentary on kon ichikawa.

hoping for another film by him soon

[–] whaleking 18 years ago

Personally I like "feel-good" movies a lot, so thus far it is:

1. Hana and Alice
2. Love Letter
3. All about Lily Chou-Chou
4. April Story
5. Swallowtail Butterfly

I should say it's not quite fair to rank "All about..." #3, it is definitely brillant---it's just that I got a glitchy copy from Netflix which crashed my computer at many places...not only it was very interrupting, I also missed quite a few crucial scenes. Will get my own copy and watch it again.

April Story theoretically speaking is also a feel-good movie, but I felt it took too long to get to the point. Takako Matsu is of course a very beautiful lead actress, but in the film her character felt too similar (gentle, innocent, polite..etc) to her role in Long Vacation, I had expected a bit more diversity...

Nevertheless, Iwai's films are definitely on my top list!

Let nobody tell you what to do, gotta be the judge and the jury, too!

[–] Danie_K 18 years ago

My rank:

1. All About Lily Chou-chou
2. Swallowtail Butterfly
3. Hana to Alice
4. April Story

Gåsen var här

[–] juveniledelinquentk 18 years ago

1. All About Lily Chou-Chou

2. Hana & Alice

3. Picnic

4. Love Letter

5. Swallowtail Butterfly

6. Undo

7. Fried Dragon Fish

8. April Story

9. Ghost Soup

10. Arita (Downloaded from Torrentspy under Jam Films)

I can't wait for the next movie, Hana & Alice was so beautiful

[–] Fru_is_Insomniac 16 years ago

1) All About Lily Chou-Chou

2) Swallowtail Butterfly

3) Love Letter

4) Hana to Alice

5) April Story

6) Undo

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Flabrezu 16 years ago

I'd say something like:

1) All About Lily Chou-Chou (GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME)
2) Love Letter
3) April Story
4) Swallowtail Butterfly
5) Hana and Alice
6) Ghost Soup
7) Picnic
8) Undo
9) Fried Dragon Fish

[–] SeisCinemaSeis 15 years ago

I've only seen two of his films so far. 'All About Lily Chou Chou' and 'Hana and Alice'.
I have noticed some similarities between those 2 films but also some deep differences.
Amongst the aspects they have in common is the fact that both movies are about teenagers, and that both films portrays japanese teens as nihilistic kids alienated from real world for one or another reason. However the vision of those teens is much more amiable and shiny in H&A than in the bleaker "Lily Chou Chou". Anyway I have yet to see more of Shunji Iwai movies in order to get a better idea about him and the message(s) of his movies.