So I try to get to get exposed to spoken Japanese as much as possible, mostly by watching movies and J-drama.
Now, a lot of drama is created for a high-school audience, but I still watch, notebook and pen at hand, ready to juggle down some new words I pick up.
What I find very interesting is that several actors play in several drama and movies, and as you follow them, you can find other movies in which they played and where other known actors are playing. So you discover many movies and drama, as well a new actors.
I like to google them, and connect the dots.
For example the movie that I posted about last time:
Linda Linda Linda (リンダ リンダ リンダ) is a movie about some highschool girls that form a band to do an act on their final schoolday. The movie starts really slow and gives the impression to be boring. But the final 10 minutes really moved me. See that clip in my previous post: they play a cool version of the song Linda Linda. After searching I found this is a song by Japanese punk band The Blue Hearts. The lyrics are in masculine form, so it's funny to hear the highschool girls sing them.
The singer of the band is played by Bae Doona . Her face looked familiar to me, and after research I found that she also played in Air Doll (空気人形 Kūki Ningyō) by director Koreeda. He is also known for directing Nobody Knows (誰も知らない Dare mo shiranai) , Still Walking (歩いても 歩いても Aruitemo aruitemo) After Life , known in Japan as Wonderful Life (ワンダフルライフ Wandafuru Raifu) and others.
Another bandmember is Yūko Odagiri (小田切 悠子 Odagiri Yūko) , who plays the guitar in the band. I had seen her before as well, and it was in the movie Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean (ローレライ Rōrerai) about an experimental submarine during the war.
And in fact, the captain of the submarine is played by Kōji Yakusho (役所 広司 Yakusho Kōji) , who also plays in Tampopo, Shall we dansu, The Eel, Warm water under a Red bridge, Memoirs of a Geisha, and many others...
I find this such investigation very interesting, and it gives me joy and keeps me motivated.
Truly, I like to connect the dots and discover more interesting movies and actors ...
