My darling is a foreigner (2010)

Also known as:  Is he turning Japanese?
Country: Japan
Genre: romance, international,
Format: movie
Cast: Inoue Mao, Johathan Sherr, Kuninaka Ryoko, Toda Naho, Kunimura Jun, Otake Shinobu, Kawaoka Daijiro, Dante Carver, Irie Masato, Bando Takumi, Patrick Harlan,
Synopsis: Saori, an aspiring manga artist, meets Tony, a man, who has arrived Japan after falling  in love with the Japanese kanji. As the couple gets closer and closer, more questions start to arise: can their love survive their cultural differences? Can others around them acknowledge them as a couple?
Rating: 4/5
I liked that it is the perfect movie for people who are worried about their so-called intercultural (future) marriage.

Saori is a Japanese woman who tries to become a mangaka. She is in love with Tony, but she does not speak much English, which puts her into many unpleasant situations. At first I found Inoue Mao's pronunciation horrible, but later it was bearable! She makes a great question "Boyfriend or just a friend - that is the question.." - just agree, we all have thought about it! She is kind of occupied with her work and crazy-thought-that-he-might-leave-her-when-she-shows-out-unpleasant-mode, but actually she is pushing Tony far away by being shut up.

Tony on the other hand is naive and sometimes childish. He is very sensitive and does not get jokes easily. I enjoyed Tony usage of Japanese phrases and he had a great Japanese pronunciation. Also he asks many "weird" questions - most Japanese even do not think about them, but they actually are quite common for foreigners =D As he was foreigner then all this acknowledging by family is easier, I find that it is for most of people who does not come from very traditional country background, but the more important is for them to be accept by their lover's family. That's why Tony wanted to stick with "known" Japanese rules. and most Japanese want their families to give their permission for marriage and stuff.

I loved that the movie showed in the end that their problems were not because they are from two different countries, but they had all "normal and usual" relationship problems, which all people have. By the way, they must have had much money, because buying this house and garden in Japan is more than expensive.
Even though, parents were kind of annoying at first, in the end they were normal. I think it is with most parents - they say one thing, but act other way and then expect us to follow by their words, even when their words might ruin our happiness xD okey, that was a bit beyond the reality, but still. All prejudges can be killed by getting to know the person.
I most liked that they had put in documentary interviews with people from the street, who are also in intercultural marriages. I was annoyed by the fact that they all were Japanese woman X foreigner man couples, because there are also otherway couples - I mean Japanese man X foreigner woman, which I hope will be my future, because I will not stay on this small cold country forever. In addition, Saori's imaginary animations were cool.
I  thought it would be a little bit funnier, but at times it was rather boring. I know, it is based on true story of Soari and Tony, who are said to be still happily married =D Wish them happily ever after and hopefully I will have that great future too xD

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Country: USA/Japan
Genre: war, history
Format: movie
Cast: Watanabe Ken, Ninomiya Kazunari, Ihara Tsuyoshi, Kaze Ryo, Nakamura Shido, Watanabe Hiroshi, Bando Takumi, Matsuzaki Yuki, Yamaguchi Takashi, Ozaki Eijiro, Nae, Sakagami Nobumasa, Luke Eberl, Sonny Saito, Mark Moses
Synopsis: World War II, battle between USA and Japan on island called Iwo Jima. Japanese solders are sent to Iwo Jima to protect their country from USA invasion, but lack of military help from the headparty puts soldiers into the position, where returning home alive seems to be impossible. Saigo is young baker, who had almost everything taken away and wants to see his child and wife again. Gen. Kuribayashi has travelled in America and does not favor the traditional Japanese army policy and reglements, which makes him disrespected by many Lieutenants. There are men who believe in pacifism and men who rather die than surrender.  
Rating: 5/5
Clint Eastwood made this movie to be a companion to "Flags of our fathers", which shows USA version of the battle of Iwo Jima. "Letters from Iwo Jima" is made after original General Tadamichi

Kuribayashi's letters, which he sent to his family.
Gen. Kuribayashi believes that there is another way to live. He has different war methods, that are based on logic and strategy while others only think about theory and set regalement. I think that not listening to Gen. and lack of communication between troops made Japanese army very vulnerable. Watanabe Ken in this role was more than significant. He read all the original letters through to play the character as real as he could.

Saigo, played by Ninomiya Kazunari, represents all those soldiers, who had everything taken away and were forced to fight and die for their country. He is the most sarcastic person in the film, yet he tries to see the positive light hoping there is a way back to home. He writes letters to his wife, but most of them might never reach her because of the censorship.
There are many other characters. Like Lt. Nishi, former Olympic champion of horse riding, and Shimizu, former army police officer, who has a lot of heart, but at the same time there are Lt. Ito and Admiral Ohsugi, who find Kuribayashi's views wrong. Putting these kind of different human nature's onto one limited area makes it even more complicated to preserve one's dignity and common sense. 

"Letters from Iwo Jima" script was actually written in English and later translated into Japanese. The shootings were mostly made in Barstow and Bakersfield in California. The on-location shootings are only the skeleton crew scenes. Filming crew got only one day, after being given a special permission by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, to film on Iwo Jima. Want the reason? There are still more than 10 000 missing Japanese solders resting underneath the soil. 
About 3/4 of the movie I cried, so after first 30th minutes I started crying. I am 100% pacifist and I hate-hate-hate-hate wars. Just to think that millions die from wars, millions lose someone precious to them, millions lose their homes and nature takes tens and tens years to recover - I cannot stand it. It is just too much pain and many times for pointless reasons.
I think it is another movie, which you must see to understand history.