SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain Nana may suffer from being a condensed version of an expansive Manga universe, but it also knows exactly how much time to spend on individual plots strands. Nana is a coming of age, female friendship film that handles immature and young emotions with absolute maturity. The most impressive aspect was creating a relationship between one of the protagonists boyfriends and another girl. It easily could have made him a villain, but instead took an unbiased look at how the relationship came to be. Luckily, for a film focused on bands, the music is relatively good. Nakashima and Miyazaki both inhabit their roles well and build up a believable friendship. Highly enjoyable, even if it doesn't quite feel complete.

CountZero313 A lot of what has been written about this film focuses on how faithfully the manga was adapted. On balance, it seems the manga fans are satisfied. If you are a fan of Nakashima's music, you will also, in all likelihood, get something out of Nana. And the under-14 crowd might enjoy it. For the rest of the world, this film is puerile.In fact, even the under-14s should keep away from this. The two protagonists, Nana and Hachi, represent the extremes that young Japanese women are meant to live up to - fluffy, cutesy air-headedness, in the case of Hachi, or chain-smoking, unprotected sex'ing, don't-give-a-f%#k posturing in the case of Nana. It is a glib rendition of Japanese womanhood presented through the filter of corrupting middle-age adults. This film was a huge hit here in Japan, and a lot of the younger element of that audience will think these women are something to aspire to. That thought depresses me.Having said that, it is not difficult to figure out why this film has succeeded commercially. The manga origins explain (but do not necessarily grant clemency to) the absurd coincidences, contrived conflicts, distilled emotional manipulation and clunky dialogue. The surreal interior sets, in particular the medieval bathroom shared by Nana and Ren, and the stately-home-style apartment Nana and Hachi share, are seductive. There are some fine looking boys and girls to look at, (even if the over-rated Matsuda gives off the same wooden air he sunk to in Gimmy Heaven). There are catchy tunes here. Nana as a character has some attitude and Nakashima's performance has charisma. But how is it possible to not loathe Hachi? This is hardly Miyazaki's fault, she no doubt only worked with what she was given, but such facile, image-obsessed females do exist, and are celebrated by uninformed women and misogynist males, and this Cult of Cute makes it all the more difficult for ambitious, talented females to succeed. I kept waiting for Nana to slap Hachi, or at least give her a good shake. Instead, Nana is co-opted into the Hachi world, and delivers up her 'dream' for her at the end. If there is a sub-text to this film, it is that no woman can succeed or be truly happy without a man coming to her aid.Now that Nana 2 is out, maybe it will re-dress the balance. Nana will dump Ren and make it on her own as a vocalist. Hachi will stop shaking her head when she speaks like a nodding dog in a car windscreen, shave her hair off, come out of the closet and begin an affair with her ex-boyfriend's lover. Or maybe it will just be more vacuous fare that the blissfully ignorant teenage masses will flock to.

DICK STEEL My curiosity was piqued when I saw many of the DVDs on sale at various shops recently, so was actually wondering what the movie's all about, until I chanced upon a copy (Special Edition too) at the Esplanade Library. In giving it a shot, I'm pleasantly surprised, at the story it told, as well as the eye-candy available of course.It contains an extremely strong story of friendship, of love and the falling out of, adapted from a popular Japanese manga of the same name, by Ai Yazawa. You might liken it to Feel 100%, as it touches on life, romantic love, and friends. This is the story with a theme primarily centered on Fate, of how two strangers sharing the same name Nana, be the same age, come to meet one night on a train to Tokyo for their own personal reasons, and how they grow to be best friends. The two girls can be so different from each other, one being a kawaii (cute) bimbo, while the other is a rock chick (which I thought was in the mould of Garbage's Shirley Manson) with her own rock band called Black Stones.While the narrative is forward moving for Nana Komatsu (Aoi Miyazaki), in following her objective to be in Tokyo with her boyfriend Shoji (Yuuta Hiraoka), Nana Osaki (Mika Nakashima, a real life singer) is in the city to try and achieve her big break for the band. However, flashbacks and the slow revelation of Osaki's backstory too revealed a romantic tangle she had with an ex-band member Ren Honjou (Ryuhei Matsuda), who now plays for a successful outfit called TRAPNEST.It's an account of the two Nana's romantic relationships with the guys in their lives, and how they encourage and support each other through turbulent times during the relationships. While Nana Osaki may be kawaii, her clingy puppy dog attitude may put some guys off, who might prefer the more confident Nana Osaki. But pride too is an obstacle, as I know from personal experience how two very ambitious persons can stumble unwittingly, and perhaps reluctantly sacrifice love for personal career.Before you dismiss this as a chick flick, I'd like to say I would think otherwise. It may look like one, but it's tremendously well made, with a well paced narrative. Perhaps having the manga serve as a source provided for richer characterization of the leads. The two actresses who play both Nanas too couldn't contrast each other perfectly, and all in all, it's a very pleasing, despite the down moments in the story, movie to watch.By the way, the sequel has already been filmed, and is pending a year end release. I don't suppose we'll get the opportunity to see it in the theatres here, so will have to cross my fingers for a quick DVD release.This Code 3 DVD Special Edition by Panorama Entertainment comes with 2 discs. The first contains the movie and a full length commentary by director Kentaro Otami as well as the two lead actresses Mika Nakashima and Aio Miyazaki. Listening to them during the commentary, they revealed which shots were kept close to the manga source, and which had to be changed for reasons ranging from aesthetics to form. No worries though, as the commentary comes with subtitles as well, in both English (though there were some grammar/tense issues with "shotted") and Chinese. Audio comes in a Dolby Digital 5.1, which allows for a truly rock-concert like atmosphere during scenes when the bands perform.The second disc is the feature disc, consisting of Making of NANA,(33mins 25s), follows the production from the 15-16 Jan 05 when filming began, including the director and cast interviews, as well as deleted scenes (filmed but not used in the movie) - Premiere Screening in Japan, 7 July (for obvious reasons) 2005 (3mins 10s), in Rippongi, with the director and major casts sharing their thoughts on the movie and of the characters they play. - Stage Appearance in Japan, 3 Sep 2005, (3mins 55s) with the director and major casts sharing their thoughts of the movie again. - Asia Premiere in Hong Kong, on 2 Oct 2005 (4mins), with a press conference attended by director Kentaro Otani, Mika Nakashima and Ryuhei Matsuda, and the attendance at the premiere screening complete with a cosplay contest. - Four theatrical trailers, without subtitles (Runtimes of 1min 48s, 30s, 20s, 34s) - Four TV Spots, without subtitles (Runtimes of 17s, 17s, 30s, 17s)

Harry T. Yung Those who have watched "Kamikaze Girls" and expected "Nana" to be much of the same are in for a big surprise. In "Nana", they will find neither avant garde characters nor black humour, but instead a very mainstream story, told in a traditional way, and wonderfully told, I hasten to add.Two girls have a chance encounter on a train, and later more chance encounters, are both called Nana (one is actually the pronunciation of a Japanese name). At the first encounter, one is dressed completely in black, the other completely in white. Nana-W, "cute and fluffy", on her way to be with her boyfriend in Tokyo, is also the voice over narrator. Nana-B, a rock vocalist as cool as you can get, has her story told in simple flashbacks. Nana-B comes with a broken heart; Nana-W is going to get one.Without getting too much into the plot, it suffices to say that Nana-B (in flashbacks) initially did not follow her guitar-player boyfriend Ren to Tokyo because she wanted to prove herself rather than live in his shadows. Three years later, now ready, she heads for Tokyo herself, encounters Nana-W on the train and winds up sharing an apartment with her. Nana-W on the other hand ends up losing her boyfriend but helps Nana-B to regain hers.I have simplified the stories, which are rich with supporting characters, well played by an ensemble cast that have taken their roles to a perfect length, leaving a firm impression without getting too much into the spotlight. And there is no villain in this movie. Even Nana-W's boyfriend Shoji who falls in love with another girl, and the girl he falls in love with, deserve considerable sympathy. Shoji, by the way, is played by Yuta Hiaroka who is just adorable in "Swing Girls". Ren, Nana-B's guitar-player boyfriend, is played by the Japanese star who many consider to have the most beautiful face, Ryuhei Matsuda and if you have seen "Gohatto", you'll understand why.In "Nana" we also see a very popular reverse in roles as in "Kamakaze girls". Nana-W starts out as sweet but woolly-headed, helpless cute damsel but ends up not only being able to get over her heartbreak, but also instrumental to Nana-B's mending a broken relationship. Nana-B, so cool and tough, actually has a weak spot in her heart. But in the end, it's the friendship and comradeship between the two girls that gives this movie an uplifting, feel-good ending.Visually, we are treated with some stunningly melancholic snow scenes, as well as a mesmerising surreal frame from the laced window of the girls' apartment.The sound is equally captivating, particularly Mika Nakashima's rock numbers.But that's not all. "Nana" has a more subtle sub-text, surrounding the rock musicians' strive for success. Ren's heading for Tokyo is no different from someone leaving everything behind in the home town to seek fame and fortune in The Big Apple. When we see him a few years later, he seems to have got to where he wanted to be, but has he really? He is with a top band, but is obviously not as popular as the other guitarist. He later intimates that he got there by sheer hard work, not talent. That is all very educational but isn't talent what it's all about with music? Seeing Ren's "success" would almost be a disillusion to Nana-B, who firmly believes that SHE has talents. Maybe there is no answer and perhaps asking the question is already taking the movie beyond what it intends to be.