Hey there, I know I'm far from the first guy, but I just read your review for The Boy and the Heron and felt like leaving some criticism, though you probably don't much care. From simply looking at your review, it is pretty clear that a lot of the film's messaging and plot were lost on you, and you know what, that's completely fine. I'm not asking you to read Wikipedia summaries or watch video essays and interpretations before writing your review, I think that would be the wrong approach and would undervalue a person's genuine response to a work. If you don't get parts of this movie, that very much is something you can criticize it for, but you have to do it properly, because there most definitely is more to this film than you give it credit for. Instead of claiming it to be bland and lifeless, rather try to formulate why its subject matter, theming, animation, atmosphere or whatever else was lost on you. I think it's important to make clear, that your experience with this movie is as normal and valid as everyone else's and it says as much about the piece as someone who loved every part of it. There is no one single way of approaching a work of art, but whatever we do, we have to give these things the benefit of the doubt. If we as reviewers elect ourselves to the position of judge, we can't at the same time be the ones to decide what an artist's intentions were, at least not without basing our claim on facts and reason. Take your view as what it is, a single subjective experience. Ask yourself, why am I holding these views, what parts of the work failed to impress me, what did I not connect or engage with and most importantly, why? There most certainly are a lot of things we don't like that are very real flaws on the side of the creator not our way of interpreting it, but then we need to give critical reasoning for why we assume these intentions, because without intentions there are no mistakes.
That's all, have a good one ^^
Sorry I got back to your message so late! I haven't been on here anywhere near as much. Regardless, happy new year to you as well, and hope you have been doing well :)
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That's all, have a good one ^^
Just wanted to say thank for your review on Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka.
I was so mad on that film and you wrote exactly my thoughts in a perfect order in your review.
woahh you're awesome too!♡ who's your bias?
Save me, save me...
HAJIMETE NO KIMCHI YO
AISHITERU ZUTTO ZUTTO
KAWARANAI KIMOCHI