People are voting emotionally.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I thought this was an unusual movie when I saw many western names mixed with Japanese names on the initial credit. The movie itself is even more unusual in that it features a kappa, nudity, and some dancing to music by the kappa. Kappa is like the Japanese version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but it has long history in Japanese folklore, and there's even speculation that it was an interpretation by the ancient Japanese eye witness of an alien visitation. Kappa appears in other movies such as Great Yokai Wars, and is a popular character in Japanese psyche.The movie is sort of a love story. Kappa in question is a rebirth of Chage's old school mate that died from drowning. It seems that he came back to save Chage from certain death that is going to happen in few days.In some ways, this movie is a study in effective movie making. For such a low budget (100k) movie, it holds up to movies that were created with more financial resources. But still, how the creators from Germany, and Japan came together to create this movie is bit of a mystery.Kind of a cool project movie. It's done with outstanding skillfulness considering the resource, and time that went into its shooting (6 days).I'm looking forward to see more movies from the producers of this movie.

This is a mildly pleasant and entertaining film, but also a very pedestrian effort at several areas as direction, acting, choreography... etc. I came to this film by virtue of being a Stereo Total fan; and though I can't say I'm disappointed with their effort, I'm left wondering how they were persuaded to do this. Sure, their approach to music and fame is comparable to a B-movie, but I still think that their talent was largely wasted. The movie's strong points are its warm heartedness, an interesting display of nature - the leaves of the aquatic plants surely leave an impression, the fact that we can develop sympathy for its main characters, and its purposeful embrace of a kitsch aesthetic. But sometimes the purposeful kitsch isn't enough to compensate the lack of production values. I think that the sketchy characterizations of the mythical creatures "kappa" are enjoyable, the sexual interaction with kappa and humans is very funny, but the movie suffers from the lack of crew talent and the apparent non-budget. For instance, the switches from regular acting to the musical numbers seem forced, as there isn't much change from camera angle, scenario, whatever... The actors often seem like they don't know how to diversify their dancing act, and, as they are not singing the songs but only dancing, they are often caught with a somewhat stupid expression, like "i'm sorry i can't dance very well". Also, I have never seen an erotic film (even one that is only vaguely erotic) with such an unattractive lead female character (well, and the same could be said about the male...). Sawa Masaki really isn't a beautiful woman and you don't want to see her naked, at best you can tolerate it. She's not a great actress, either. There is another sex scene with the main kappa and a prostitute that seems to be thrown in for the sake of giving the viewers some diversity and a better looking actress. I enjoyed the scene (it is sexy and funny), but it looks like an ad-hoc plot arrangement. That said, it surely is a curious movie, reasonably entertaining, and worth watching if you're a fan of Stereo Total, weird movies in general or Japanese weirdity in particular (not so much if you're looking for Asian erotica).

The tagline for this movie is "A Pink Musical" and it is a kooky musical comedy.Unlike a lot of pinku movies, this one is well acted and the story line is actually well thought and mapped out. In other words there is both acting and a plot line instead of filler for the nudity.The movie is well shot and the main actress plays her role very well. The musical and dance number are where she shines. There is an uninhibitedness about her in those scenes and those scenes IMO make the movie.Being a pinku movie there is of course nudity and sex, even human - mythical creature sex.A good movie that makes you laugh and smile. Something i would definitely watch again.

Just watched this at the Fantastic Fest 2011 in Austin and was blown away. It defies genres. The director is know as a pink movie director, basically a kind of Japanese soft porn, but the film truly transcends this label. It's very very funny at times, has a cuteness to the characters, is sexually quite explicit, yet at the same time very romantic. Fundamentally, though, it is fundamentally a film about the existentially condition of life, about living in the now, enjoying life and love to the full and as such is very successful. Humor and sexuality are both used with good effect to demonstrate the temporal and immediate nature of human existence. You laugh, you cry, you get horny, you listen to the strange songs and you think about the nature of our short lives on this earth.The cinematography is very good, the pale and low contrast images capture the landscape, particularly the water, very well.All in all, a true pearl of a movie!