Reviews

I want to start off by saying this anime series had decent potential in the beginning, it certainly intrigued me. I thought this could almost, maybe be a classic in the making. And it is a classic, but for all the wrong reasons. The main character Takemichi is one of, if not THE worst protagonist I have ever seen. His ineptitude and cowardice boggles the mind and extends for the duration of the series. He time travels with the express intent of saving his friends and loved ones from being destroyed by Kisaki, a villain who turns out to actually be a fairly good antagonist, but by the end of the series I didn't even care what happened to Takemichi and his friends because I felt like he deserved it. I mean, whatever man, you time travel and do NOTHING to even try and stop Kisaki? You see all these people being killed and you can't even throw a rock at this guy? So what does our "time traveling hero" do for 24 eps? He cries. Yup. That's it, I kid you not Takemichi cries the whole time all the way to the most frustrating series finale I've ever seen. How in the world this anime is rated over a 6 is beyond me. Completely overrated, shallow, and nonsensical. If you skipped this you wouldn't be missing a thing.

I liked this movie. The beginning setup was great and left me expecting more in the second half. The two lead characters were awesome and I really wish they had spent more time developing the relationship between them. I like the concept of the end of the line, we have nothing to lose love story.

The quiet parts of the film when they share heartfelt moments together and intimate conversations are by far the best scenes. I was hoping the budding romance would be better developed but it wasn't. The writers opted instead to have us suspend our belief for an unlikely airport fight, an unrealistic car chase, and an over long, bloody denouement.

Perhaps what nags at me the most was the protagonists go through all of this personal heartache and pain, but nobody wins. The audience is left without an olive branch of hope, nothing to uplift our spirit in the face of all that suffering and death. I enjoyed it for what it was, but it could have been much better. The Man from Nowhere (2010) is a good example of what I mean from this genre.

I happened upon this film as an upload on YouTube, scrolling through movie lists from the 70's, trying to time travel back to a slice of my childhood. It was a cold, overcast gray, and rainy day, and I decided to watch Play It As It Lays without knowing anything going in and it blew me completely out of the water.

It's been almost a week since I've seen it and I'm still unable to shake it from my thoughts. This is remarkable filmmaking. This film made me uncomfortable, it made me think, it made me anxious, and it made me desperately sad for Maria (Weld). Her attempts to piece together memories of her parents, the subtle lies she tells her daughter, her matter-of-fact attitude about the absurdity of life, and her inability and/or unwillingness to "fit in" with the crowd, my goodness that hit me hard.

Also, it should be mentioned: Tammy Grimes was absolutely indelible in every scene she was in, voraciously consuming the screen, line by line, all the way down to her final scream. She was marvelous.

Modern day Hollywood studios and directors could never imagine being able to get away with making a film of this caliber today. I dare anyone to even try. They would be laughed out of the room.

I loved this film. The nostalgic stickiness of it, the cinematography, the dialog, the editing. Everything. I haven't read Didion's book, but now I think I never will. Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins encapsulated whatever the book may have been perfectly for me and I don't want to ruin that. This is a film that deserves all the praise and high ratings it receives. I feel like I found a treasure.