Review of "NANA"

Finished watching this movie and I must say that I'm amazed at how good this turned out to be. I was indeed sceptical about this despite hearing rave reviews but I'm now convinced that this is pretty good.

First of all, let me clarify that I've not read the manga yet so I do not know much about the storyline or the characters involved so there won't be a comparison of how well these actors/actresses fit the original characters. I'm assessing their performance based on how well they do on screen only.

The two leads Nakashima Mika and Miyazaki Aoi were chosen because they were said to resemble the characters the most among the hopefuls waiting to play the roles. Miyazaki is fine as Nana (Hachi) and she's so saccharine-sweet that it's hard to say no to her or stop yourself from pampering her. However, due to this, Hachi has a tendency to rely on others too much and put her own interests in the first place unwittingly. Although I won't say that Shoji is totally blameless when it comes to him betraying Hachi for Sachiko, Hachi does have a part to play in trying too hard to push her own views on others without realising that Shoji doesn't like her wilful ways. I usually dislike such act-cute characters but I didn't feel that much dislike for Miyazaki though.

As for Nakashima, she was really good to have displayed the conflicting emotions of Nana which caused such a terrible emotional struggle. On one hand, she didn't want to rely on her ex-boyfriend because of pride and yet she still loves him so much. That scene when they hugged at the hotel was really heart-breaking as Nana kept telling Ren that she didn't mean to reconcile with him but she couldn't stop herself from doing so. Oh, there were two scenes when she was in the bathtub with Ren but there wasn't anything sleazy about that. It felt good to see them baring their thoughts and hugging each other.

I don't know if anyone feels the same way as me but Nakashima is really skinny in this movie. People tend to look bigger than in real-life when they appear on the TV / movie screen and if I already find Nakashima extremely skinny, who knows how thin she might be in real-life? She didn't use to look like that and it didn't feel good seeing her pencil-thin legs and her bony frame as if she had been starved for ages.

As for the guys, my personal favourites are Yasu and Shin. Yasu seems like a very interesting person where he's a drummer and a lawyer at the same time. Two entirely different types of image and they can be found in the same person. As for Shin, I just find him so cute especially when he told Nobu that he knows about Nana's story after Nobu said everything while he was drunk. It's as if he was teasing Nobu for being a blabbermouth and the latter didn't quite like the fact that Shin took away his chance of telling the story to Hachi.

With regards to those whom I didn't like, it would be Takumi (Tamayama Tetsuji) and Shoji (Hiraoka Yuta). It's got more to do with how they look rather than how their characters are.

Ito Yuna deserves special mention here although she only appeared in the last 30 minutes or so and she had only one English line. I read before that Ito did not know how to speak Japanese when she came from Hawaii for the auditions of NANA so that's probably why she spoke English in the movie. However, this is not the reason why I think she deserves attention. She sang two songs in this movie, one of them being ENDLESS STORY which is used as the BGM to explain what happened when Ren and Nana parted ways as he came to Tokyo to join Trapnest. That scene was really sad and coupled with Ito's strong and sultry vocals, it increases the impact of that farewell scene. Not to forget Ito's stage presence as the diva singer REIRA, she was absolutely captivating.

Frankly speaking, I really like Ito's voice and she sounds so good either on CD or live performances. However, I'm worried that she might strain her vocals too much as she becomes more popular since this is something very common among many singers. Nakashima sounded so steady during her debut but of late, I find that she's straining herself to hit the higher notes as if it is tough to do so. That's why I certainly don't want to see the same happening to Ito.

Anyway, with regards to the story, there isn't anything much to talk about since it basically lays the groundwork and introduces the characters. I believe the sequel will be meatier in terms of its plot so we'll have to wait for next year before that is shown. No doubt there were a lack of upheavals in the storyline, the two leads were able to convince me how they came to develop a friendship and the concept was easier to accept as a result.

Talking about the songs "GLAMOROUS SKY" and "ENDLESS STORY", I prefer the latter. It's not that I don't like rock numbers but on a comparison basis, I just like the ballad better than the rock song.

When you finish the film, watch the entire credits roll since that's when you will get to see Black Stones performing the full version of "GLAMOROUS SKY". Wow, seeing Yasu, Shin and Nobu jamming on stage was so enjoyable. I don't know if they are really able to play those musical instruments but even if it was just play-acting, they sure looked convincing.

Out of a score of 10, I would give it a 9. If the story was more exciting, I might have given it full marks for the high level of enjoyment it provided.