"Monosasu Cinema" at the end of summer

Even if the daytime heat is intense, there are more and more days when a cool breeze blows in the evening.
It's nice to see the heat easing up, but we're now in the second half of August and it can be a little sad to think that the end of summer is just around the corner.

Did you see any movies this summer?
This time, four Monosasu members will introduce their recommended summer movies.

A masterpiece directed by a gourmet with ramen as its central theme, a summer road movie about a mismatched couple, a bittersweet ensemble drama about the end of youth, and a classic adventure.

It makes me excited, sad, and laugh.
The members' recommendations are even more passionate than usual!

The movie we will introduce this time

The bittersweet night that can never come back, the moment youth ends "American Sleepover"

American Sleepover, directed by David Robert Mitchell
(Original title: The Myth of the American Sleepover) Released in 2010 Official website ( Amazon )

This summer has been extremely hot and I just hope it gets cooler soon.
As August draws to a close, I wonder if I did anything summer-like.
I find myself reminiscing and wondering if there is anything I still have undone.
The film I'd like to introduce this time, "American Sleepover," is a youth drama about boys and girls searching for what they're each looking for at the end of summer.

Suburbs of Detroit, USA.
One night on the last weekend of summer vacation.
A girl goes to find something she's missing.
A boy goes to look for the girl he fell in love with at first sight.
Also, a girl who goes to stay at her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend's house,
A young man who found out that two beautiful twin girls had feelings for him in high school,
Each story begins at a sleepover party that is held all over the place.

For American students, whose new semester begins in September, summer vacation marks the end of their youth.
As the time draws ever closer until dawn,
The answers each of them came up with when they finally found what they were looking for were bittersweet.
Although the culture is different, such as home parties and sleepovers,
For some reason it gives me a nostalgic feeling and I can relate to it.

And the expressions on their faces in the final scene make you feel refreshed.

There is a line spoken by a young man in the play.
"We rush into adulthood in the hope of adventure, only to realize later that we can never go back"

The things that you were passionate about and that seemed so exciting at the time gradually become part of your daily routine and you forget about them.
This is a movie that makes you realize the things you have forgotten and makes you think that you should cherish each and every day.

It will also be shown in the end credits.
The Magnetic Fields' "The Saddest Story Ever Told" is also a great song that links to the contents of the movie, so if you're watching the movie, you can listen to the music while it's playing.
I hope you will take the time to reminisce about your youth and soak in the afterglow.

Even if at the end of a long journey, the ending isn't what you expected.
"Kikujiro's Summer" is a story that brings back memories of "that summer, sometime, somewhere"

Takeshi Kitano's "Kikujiro's Summer" released in 1999 ( Amazon )

Every summer there are certain movies I want to see.
This is "Kikujiro's Summer." Many of you may already know this film, directed by and starring Takeshi Kitano.
This is a road movie that depicts the summer journey of Masao, a young boy who lost his father and lives with his grandmother, and his "uncle" who, by chance, ends up accompanying him on a journey to "find his mother."

Anyway, the "uncle" played by Takeshi Kitano is amazing. He's so outrageous. He takes advantage of the driver's mistake and steals a taxi, he spends all his travel expenses on bicycle racing, he pretends to be blind and tries to deceive a kind driver... Masao is Masao, and he's not cute at all (laughs). He's not cute at all, but he has that stiff feeling that is unique to children, and even though he's not cute, I can't help but watch him.

The journey the two of them take to meet Masao's mother who lives far away is sometimes incredibly fun and sometimes incredibly terrible... They support each other and grow as they make progress little by little.
The story is colored by "people whose names we don't even know," played by familiar faces to TV fans in their 30s, such as Ide Rakkyo and Hosokawa Fumie. They play peacefully and openly on a forbidden lawn with a couple they meet by chance, and play Daruma-san korona half-naked with a biker couple on a trip and an older man who wants to be a novelist. I wonder if it doesn't really matter who someone is or what they do when it comes to becoming friends with someone.

They meet and say goodbye to people they don't even know. Their interactions change their journey. They never imagined their journey would turn out like this. And in the end, they return to where they came from, looking a little different than they did before. Even if the end of their long journey doesn't bring the conclusion they wanted.

You see, many things in life don't go well...but I think that after watching this movie, you'll realize that it's those very moments when things don't go well that are actually irreplaceable, beautiful moments.
I think it's precisely because things don't go perfectly smoothly that people are able to grow.

Something goes wrong and you get hurt, but then you meet someone and hang out with them for a while. Then you leave and come back, and realize that you've grown up a little... I don't know when or where it was, or maybe you never had that experience in the first place. But the "summer" that I have in my heart is coming. This is that kind of movie for me.

My favorite character in this movie is the "kind uncle" played by Nezumi Imamura, who is an aspiring novelist. He loads all his belongings into his car and travels around selling his poems, which is a cool style! I admired him and made plans to go on a wandering trip after graduation when I was a university student.

I'm looking forward to watching it this year again, in a hot room with a cold drink.

An adventure story that reminds us of the childhood we felt when we were immersed in the story "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales"

Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg direct "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" to be released in 2017 ( Amazon )

Introducing the fifth installment of the famous Pirates series.

Summer vacation. Recommended for those who were children and were excited by keywords such as ghosts, curses, ghost ships, and celestial bodies.
It's been about 15 years since the Disneyland attraction "Pirates of the Caribbean," which I loved since I was a child, was made into a movie. This history has a wonderful, heartwarming ending. (The fifth movie is interesting enough on its own, but since it has been passed down from the previous generations of the series, it is twice as interesting if you have at least seen the first movie.)

From the beginning, the ghost ship and the enemy ghost Salazar are terrifying, and the pirate captain Jack Sparrow is drunk, so you're quickly drawn into the story, wondering what will happen next.

Jack Sparrow is not a perfect, orthodox hero, but he is a carefree man with a cunning and flawed personality. He also has a way of saying things that are contrary to what he really thinks, which makes him a cute protagonist.
This is the fifth film in the series, and tells the story of Captain Jack Sparrow's birth. This is a key part of the story, and here he shows off his carefree intelligence and charisma.

Although Jack is not a "supporting character," he is always watching over those around him and making connections between people without even realizing it. The story also depicts many sweet and bitter stories of family, parent-child relationships, and friendships that develop from there.

Jack seems to lose everything, but in the end he gets what's important to him.
So, although it's a thrilling and nerve-wracking watch, you end up feeling very happy at the end.

Although it is not a character, the ship that I am most interested in is Jack's ship, the Black Pearl. The sails and hull of this ship are jet black. It is said to be the fastest ship in the Caribbean, and can escape ghost ships, even though it cannot be seen in the dark.
In the series, the pirate ship leads a turbulent life, with the ship being fought over, dragged to the bottom of the ocean, and even shrunk into a bottle ship.
The highlight of this story is the scene where the Black Pearl, trapped in a bottle ship, is resurrected. Although he doesn't say anything, he is reliable and cool, and I wanted to experience that moment over and over again, so much so that I ended up buying the soundtrack.

I remember when I was reading picture books and I was scared or laughing. It's exciting to see the story I imagined reading the book actually unfold before my eyes!

These were some movies that are perfect for summer and will get you in that mood.

There are things that will make you feel like a child again after hearing exciting stories,
Something that reminds me of a distant summer.

For those who went somewhere this summer and those who didn't,
How about taking a little trip through the movies?

We hope to bring you another special feature on recommended movies!