14 SAI NO HAHA
(PART THREE – I KNOW! I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THIS DRAMA!)
THE ACTION
You know I think for all the drama’s lacking in the Brain Department, it really does make up for it with a whole lot of Soul and Heart. The acting’s…brilliant – and I think, from all the overwhelming praise on Youtube – most people think that too. You have people just gushing, gushing, gushing about this actor or that actress and on my part, I suppose the acting must have been stellar for me to decide to have to put up with all that offensively stupid decisions.
[1] Of course, there is Shida Mirai as protagonist, Miki Ichinose. And I loved Shida Mirai in Jyoou no Kyoushitsu (The Queen’s Classroom) which was absolutely bril (!!!) and I hope one day I can churn out a review that does it most justice. So we all know she has some calibre and she was good in the drama – especially in the first episode and when she first has her labour troubles. I actually Youtubed videos of real women really having labour contractions and stuff and…Shida Mirai’s gooooood! Shida Mirai is the real deal! I just didn’t think the bulk of the show/script did her acting much justice – mostly, she just had to look determined and sincere. Which I mean…she did fantastically but…most of her scenes, however well acted, just isn’t award-winning material.
(This is Shida Mirai being exhausted and numbed with shock and grief. As you can see, she looks very…blank and numb. Which is good! Which is…you know, intended. But would you give her an award for this woody expression? I think not. How sad. She does numb with grief very well.)
(This is Shida Mirai being determined to say something to her boyfriend. Whoa, we CAN see the strength in her eyes. But again…hmm)
[2] And then of course there was Tanaka Misako as Ichinose Kanako!
Who I thought was anabsolute gem – she’s carries herself with the sort of quiet dignity and cultivated poise on which Westerners base an entire culture of fetishising the Orient. She is, you will find, the archetypal Asian Beauty – submissive and mindful of all the anachronistic rules and sense of decorum but with an underlying strength and enough independence of mind to influence her husband in the gentle, polite way she went about doing that. (Yes yes, I won’t stop waxing lyrical and am clearly sold to her cause!)
…And it helps that she is naturally, quite the beauty. I honestly don’t know how much of it can be attributed to the calibre of her acting but surely, credit must be given for the kind of respect she commands as powerfully as she is gentle. I’ve heard of people following the series only because they admire Tanaka Misako’s mama Ichinose. I’m not sure I’d stick to a series for a side character? But her acting definitely helped ground several scenes integral to the development of the plot so that the drama wasn’t as flawed in execution as in concept.
(Tanaka Misako’s quality of “Yasashii” captured in one of my favourite, most poignant scenes)
[3] Another superstar would be Miki Ichinose’s heartmeltingly adorable lil bro – Koshimizu Kazuki’s Kenta Ichinose
Seriously, how cute is he? But don’t be fooled! This child actor didn’t cruise by banking solely on his natural Kawaii.
(From heart-melting to heart-breaking: One of the saddest saddest scenes masterfully pulled off…you know, it sounds wrong even to say that because in that heart-wrenching moment, it really didn’t even seem like he was acting. You can’t fake that little tremor in the lip, that profound sadness in the eyes and that desperate, broken voice!!! Give him an Emmy already! )
The rest of the cast were good but if I commented on them all, I’d run into my fourth post on 14 Sai no Haha and as it is, I have no idea why this review is running on for so long. I would point out, however, that Miura Haruma as Miki’s boyfriend, Kirino Satoshi and Namase Katsuhisa as her father, Tadahiko Ichinose were rather underwhelming/disappointing though. Miura Hiruma, I think, was partially let down himself by a script which left him rather…vague and ill-defined. Namase Katsuhisa on the other hand, was just…wrongly cast?! I mean, we know him as that wacky-ass head-master guy in Gokusen right? And he is not such a Johnny Depp that he can play such differing roles with the much needed versatility. He actually managed to look comical in all his overacting – which, of course, rather ruined some supposedly really sad scenes…but I don’t know, you be the judge.
IN CONCLUSION
In short, I think this was one of the most brilliant dramas (technicality-wise) I have ever watched. The acting deserves the kind of mad, raving praises you see all over Youtube and while I didn’t cry myself, I can see why male members of the audience admit publicly to sobbing over some of the scenes. The only thing that sort of…niggled at me was probably the overused Sad Music – it wasn’t even inappropriately used. It was, as some put it, beautiful – just…at some point, you get bored of things – beautiful Sad Music included. But I cannot get over its being opposed to almost every value and belief I hold dear. (It’s not that I’m dogmatic of bigoted – I’d like to think its just common sense raging up in fury at the drama’s brutal violation of all things common sense-ical) And I would definitely put up some disclaimer here to say that…I have been supremely biased in judging this drama and I will likely continue to be but I also think my biases as well-founded and logically justified, so. Maybe that’s good enough reason for you to catch the drama? It is a well-executed film and I’d wager, one of the more convincing and realistic ones we will see in a long time. There are few better dramas with which to truly challenge your worldview and rouse the culture skeptic in you.
Or if you aren’t feeling soooo intellectual – there’s Miura Haruma!
doramaphilic 