Moon Child
PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2004 6:56 pm
Well, seeing what a stir this movie has made on the J-rock pic thread, I thought I'd write up a small review of it in the fashion of our anime reviews. (I finally finished it yesterday!) This will also give me a thread in which others and I can discuss some of the aspects we found intriguing, confusing, etc.
Title: Moon Child
Lowest Age: 16
Violence: 7/10
Language: 6/10
Sexual Content: 1/10
Nudity: 0/10
Objectionable religious content: 1/10
Overall movie: 8/10
Story: Kei (Hyde) is a friendless vampire on the run. Sho (later played by Gackt) is an orphaned street child, stealing with his brother and friend in order to stay alive. (As an interesting side note, the setting, a place called Mallepa, is quite diversely Asian, meaning that the characters switch between Chinese and Japanese depending on who they’re addressing.) When the two meet by chance and Kei ends up saving the lives of the boys, something connects between the vampire and the kid; they end up working together to pull off more elaborate heists through the years (complete with eye-pleasing gun battles), keeping their ties with Sho’s friends and even finding a pseudo-family in the Taiwanese siblings Son and Yi-che. But happiness doesn’t last, especially not when the local mafia-like organization views the group as a threat and take action. Staring into the face of death and grim reality, Sho must make his own choices, wise or not, as his world falls apart.
Violence: Plenty of blood from gunshot wounds, even spraying or smearing on the walls. Also, Hyde’s character, Kei, is a vampire, so we have shots of him drinking from dead victims and some of the aftermath (none of them hugely prolonged). Another vampire dies by sunlight, going up in flames.
Language: A good bit, including at least one f-word in the subtitles.
Sexual Content: A character’s sister is a rape victim. We find this out only through a few lines of dialogue a while after it happened, so it’s not explicit. Kei wears a shirt with a sexual slogan.
Nudity: None.
Bad religion: Neither Christianity nor any other religion gets a mention in this movie, though one character makes a reference to reincarnation and later asks another character to pray for a soon-to-be-dead man's soul.
Soundtrack: Effective. Actually, I was surprised at the frequent use of English songs. I don’t know if I’d buy it (has it even been released on its own?), but I felt it fulfilled its purpose quite well.
Sub v. Dub: There is no dub. The sub is decent, and quite necessary, even if you know Japanese, seeing as how the characters switch between Japanese and Chinese with a little English in a couple parts.
Other Negative Elements: Pretty much everyone smokes. One minor character does drugs. [spoiler]The ending gives a subtle nod to suicide, implying that it can bring a final peace to troubled and chaotic lives.[/spoiler]
Review: I admit it (not like it’s a surprise to anyone): I’m a J-rock fangirl. So maybe I’m a little biased, but it was at least a decent movie. Quite violent, yes, and most of the language seemed rather gratuitous, but there’s something engaging about almost all of the main characters. I even found myself possibly liking Toshi or maybe even Son better than Kei or Sho (gasp!). While the street violence is brutal and bloody, the movie also proves it has a heart with its beautiful scenes focused on peace and happiness and a surprisingly quiet but satisfying ending. Sure, it was probably made mostly for the fangirls, but I think it’s quite possible to enjoy this movie without knowing anything about either Gackt or Hyde.
Title: Moon Child
Lowest Age: 16
Violence: 7/10
Language: 6/10
Sexual Content: 1/10
Nudity: 0/10
Objectionable religious content: 1/10
Overall movie: 8/10
Story: Kei (Hyde) is a friendless vampire on the run. Sho (later played by Gackt) is an orphaned street child, stealing with his brother and friend in order to stay alive. (As an interesting side note, the setting, a place called Mallepa, is quite diversely Asian, meaning that the characters switch between Chinese and Japanese depending on who they’re addressing.) When the two meet by chance and Kei ends up saving the lives of the boys, something connects between the vampire and the kid; they end up working together to pull off more elaborate heists through the years (complete with eye-pleasing gun battles), keeping their ties with Sho’s friends and even finding a pseudo-family in the Taiwanese siblings Son and Yi-che. But happiness doesn’t last, especially not when the local mafia-like organization views the group as a threat and take action. Staring into the face of death and grim reality, Sho must make his own choices, wise or not, as his world falls apart.
Violence: Plenty of blood from gunshot wounds, even spraying or smearing on the walls. Also, Hyde’s character, Kei, is a vampire, so we have shots of him drinking from dead victims and some of the aftermath (none of them hugely prolonged). Another vampire dies by sunlight, going up in flames.
Language: A good bit, including at least one f-word in the subtitles.
Sexual Content: A character’s sister is a rape victim. We find this out only through a few lines of dialogue a while after it happened, so it’s not explicit. Kei wears a shirt with a sexual slogan.
Nudity: None.
Bad religion: Neither Christianity nor any other religion gets a mention in this movie, though one character makes a reference to reincarnation and later asks another character to pray for a soon-to-be-dead man's soul.
Soundtrack: Effective. Actually, I was surprised at the frequent use of English songs. I don’t know if I’d buy it (has it even been released on its own?), but I felt it fulfilled its purpose quite well.
Sub v. Dub: There is no dub. The sub is decent, and quite necessary, even if you know Japanese, seeing as how the characters switch between Japanese and Chinese with a little English in a couple parts.
Other Negative Elements: Pretty much everyone smokes. One minor character does drugs. [spoiler]The ending gives a subtle nod to suicide, implying that it can bring a final peace to troubled and chaotic lives.[/spoiler]
Review: I admit it (not like it’s a surprise to anyone): I’m a J-rock fangirl. So maybe I’m a little biased, but it was at least a decent movie. Quite violent, yes, and most of the language seemed rather gratuitous, but there’s something engaging about almost all of the main characters. I even found myself possibly liking Toshi or maybe even Son better than Kei or Sho (gasp!). While the street violence is brutal and bloody, the movie also proves it has a heart with its beautiful scenes focused on peace and happiness and a surprisingly quiet but satisfying ending. Sure, it was probably made mostly for the fangirls, but I think it’s quite possible to enjoy this movie without knowing anything about either Gackt or Hyde.
