phanero ([personal profile] phanero) wrote2024-06-16 02:18 pm
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Review: Tremble All You Want (勝手にふるえてろ) (2017)

This was a good movie, interesting and unique and intriguing and not what I’d expected. It didn’t hit exactly in the way that I hoped it would as a romance, but I can appreciate the thought and care that was put into this movie and its messages. I recommend it as a comedy-drama movie!

Spoilers.



Story

Yoshika was an accountant. She had a lively inner life. She was humourous and regularly made her coworker Kurumi laugh. She was very friendly with people she saw on the regular. She was fascinated with extinct animals. And she had never had a boyfriend. She had a crush on a middle school classmate, Ichi, and she carried that crush ten years later.

Her coworker whom she called Ni (for two, since Ichi was one) was romantically interested in her and Kurumi encouraged her to give it a shot. They didn’t really fit together well, as their interests didn’t align, and Yoshika found him kind of sleazy.

Yoshika catfished her middle school classmates in order to set up a middle school reunion, so that she could meet Ichi again. She had a burst of confidence in which she was able to set up subsequent reunions. At one later meetup, she and Ichi struck up conversation in which he admitted that he was not popular but rather was just bullied, and that he’d always wanted to befriend Yoshika. He shared Yoshika’s interest in extinct animals, and it was implied that Yoshika felt like an extinct animal herself, forgotten and cast to the side. The conversation ended when Ichi asked Yoshika what her name was.

Yoshika went home clutching her chest, moved by the idea of Ichi calling her by her name. As she went home, she didn’t greet her regular friends, and that’s when it was revealed that all of these interactions had been imagined by Yoshika. She didn’t have as many friends as we thought she did. She didn’t have a beautiful reconciliation with Ichi. He never tugged her shirt to get her attention at school. All of Yoshika’s social interactions were imagined and she was alone.

Yoshika began spending more time with Ni, giving their relationship a shot. She learned about his interests (sports), they went to wine-tasting together, etc. However, Yoshika was pretty skittish when it came to affection, running off when Ni tried to kiss her. It was revealed that Kurumi had told Ni about Yoshika never having a boyfriend and Yoshika became infuriated, thinking that Ni was only interested in her because she was a virgin. Yoshika broke up and then applied for maternity leave, though it was a farce.

Yoshika eventually received a voicemail from Kurumi who apologized for angering her and congratulating her on the baby. Yoshika called out Ni to talk things out. He insisted that he did still like her, liked her quirkiness. Yoshika accepted his feelings, finally called him by his real name Kirsihima, and they kissed.

This was a familiar introvert story, in which Yoshika learned to come out of her shell and to form social interactions with those around her instead of imagining them, or imagining relations with people who were no longer in her life. However, the reason why I wasn’t totally sold on this movie was because I couldn’t really sense the chemistry between Yoshika and Ni. It almost felt like she was tricking herself to enjoy his interests, while Ni had never really shown interest in her other than wanting to be around her. He never really understood her interest in her hobbies, he was often pushing on her boundaries. He said that he was trying to respect her boundaries but to me it still seemed a bit much at times. And I think that was the biggest reason of why I couldn’t buy this story, because otherwise I enjoyed the introvert part of the story, in which Yoshika understood that she was not living a life alongside other people.

Production

The production as great. All of the actors were excellent and I found Matsuoka Mayu extremely charming. I found the direction and editing really awesome and engaging. It was very exciting, very cute, very charming. I really felt like I was living in Yoshika’s dream world.

Characters

Eto Yoshika

Yoshika was our lonely introvert girl who had a rich inner life but maintained a distance with most other people. In her mind, she was able to share her thoughts with people she saw on the regular, like her coworker who she sat on the bus often, the stationmaster, the convenience store worker, the fisherman, the waitress, her neighbour. In reality, Yoshika had imagined all of her interactions and she never really had these deep conversations with them.

She was interested in extinct animals, and it was because she also felt forgotten, cast away by society. Nobody really looked for her, to her. We saw that her phone contact list was pretty empty.

Yoshika was hung up on her middle school crush Ichi. She relieved their moments together, even though they were quite small and probably insignificant for most people. But we later saw that even what few moments they had were possibly fabrications of her own mind.

As an introvert with no romantic history in her 30s, I related to Yoshika very deeply. (And maybe that’s why I didn’t buy the lesson of the story which was to just accept the people around you, but more on that later)

I did feel that Yoshika was uncharacteristically brave when trying to get close to Ichi, and so it made sense when we realized that she had imagined some of what had happened. Perhaps it was other things that had led to them having met in the high-rise apartment.

Yoshika began to actually enjoy Ni’s company, learning to live in his world and growing close. However, she was upset when he mentioned her being pure because she hadn’t had a boyfriend. I can completely sympathize with Yoshika’s response. It was a sore spot, and any time it’s brought up, it feels like a jab. Was Ni interested in Yoshika because she was a virgin, and once she wasn’t a virgin anymore, he would get rid of her? Was Ni bringing it up because he wanted Yoshika to be grateful to him because he was one of the few to give her the time of day? Yoshika projected some of her insecurities onto Ni.

I understand why Yoshika was angry with Kurumi, as she was sharing her personal information. Like I said, it was a sore spot for Yoshika. However, I do think Yoshika was moved by Kurumi’s voice message. Kurumi had taken the initiative to call her, outside of work, because she wanted to clear things up. I think that was a little moving for Yoshika, who didn’t have many friends on the regular.

After her conversation with Ichi where he didn’t remember her name, I think Yoshika finally gave up on Ichi, though she acknowledged that the last ten years weren’t wasted. I do agree with that. Just because she spent her last ten years crushing on a guy who didn’t even know she existed didn’t mean she didn’t spend that ten years doing nothing. She did grow as a person, developing a career and hobbies, she just didn’t have a romantic relationship in that time.

I think the story would have worked better if I had sensed that spark of interest of Yoshika in Ni. After all, Ni had only ever really encroached her boundaries. Yoshika did eventually accept his company, but it was a little hard to accept. Anyway, in the end, Yoshika decided to clear things up with Ni since they broke up badly. Ni reiterated that he liked her and since Yoshika was a bit interested, she decided to give it a shot.

Yoshika went through the typical introvert character arc of pulling herself out of her dream world and learning to connect with others. That involved taking her friendship with Kurumi to the next level, acknowledging the lady who changed her garbage, reconciling with Ni and finally calling him by his name, and even learning about her neighbour, discovering that she was in a relationship with the convenience store worker.

I will say that Yoshika’s cute charm made me really like this movie. She was very charming in her dream world, but even as she learned to pull herself out of her dream world, I found her a layered and deep character, and I could relate to her thoughts. Great job Matsuoka Mayu.

Ichi

Ichi was Yoshika’s first crush. She thought of him as a prince and drew comics about him. She had a hard time contacting him to come to the reunion, but was able to do so by contacting his parents.

Ichi was shy and withdrawn at the reunion. In flashbacks, other guys would roughhouse with him and they did that at the reunion as well. Though he was reluctant to come to subsequent gatherings, he did so anyway.

It’s hard to say how much of Ichi’s actions at the high-rise reunion were real. We saw that he was reluctant to be close with other female classmates. That may or may not be true considering his withdrawn nature. He then told Yoshika that the roughhousing with other classmates was actually bullying and he hated being around the other classmates because of that. Instead, he said he’d always wanted to be close with Yoshika, and that he had tugged on her shirt at school because he wanted her attention. On the balcony, he revealed that he shared Yoshika’s interest in extinct animals, and that talking with her was like talking with himself. And the conversation ended with him asking Yoshika’s name.

Yoshika’s initial reaction was to feel lightheaded at the thought of Ichi ever calling her by her name. However, after that wore off, she realized that her relationship with Ichi was even less than what little it already was. It wasn’t grand and dramatic, but Yoshika gave up on Ichi after that. Probably also because she was growing to be interested in Ni. Yoshika convinced herself that the ten years she spent pining after Ichi was not wasted. That was the anger part of the fallout, but I think it was relatively easier for her to get over it because romance was just one part of her life.

Overall, Ichi was more of a concept to Yoshika than an actual person. Yes, she did have a crush on Ichi, and she did long to be his romantic partner. At the same time, I think Ichi represented her inner life. If she held on to Ichi, she would have an excuse not to connect with others, such as in the case of Ni. She told him that she would break up with him to pursue a relationship with Ichi.

Ni/Kirishima

Ni was a coworker from the sales department. He would always bring his work over to Yoshika and she found him bothersome. He was always in her space, and his work was often wrong. He even borrowed her stationery without asking and she didn’t appreciate that.

At the work gathering, Ni approached Yoshika. She was visibly uncomfortable and yet he still pushed, which I found offputting. Anyway, they exchanged numbers.

Ni continued to pursue Yoshika, asking to hang out. She picked a club that she’d always wanted to go to, but Ni completely didn’t like it. He had come after work, so he wasn’t dressed for the occasion. Plus, he didn’t enjoy the clubbing atmosphere either, not interested in the music, the dancing. When Yoshika talked about her interests, all Ni focused on was that she was single. He asked to be boyfriend and girlfriend afterwards and she of course couldn’t say yes.

He continued to ask her out. He asked her to go fishing and it wasn’t something she was used to. At that time, she was occupied with organizing the middle school reunion and she wasn’t really paying attention to Ni. He gave her a gift of red sticky notes, which he said represented an encounter they had, which Yoshika didn’t really remember at all. Ni had caught Yoshika as she was going to her middle school reunion at the high-rise. He tagged along which Yoshika found extremely offputting.

After the fallout with Ichi, Yoshika continued to go on dates with Ni and she found herself enjoying their time. She played ping-pong with him, she went to wine tasting. They were even comfortable. It was Yoshika who suggested being boyfriend and girlfriend. Ni was so excited that he tried to kiss Yoshika and she freaked out, running away at full speed.

Things took a turn when Ni mentioned Yoshika’s dating history. Yoshika took it negatively and she definitively decided to break it off with her. She then applied for maternity leave. As she left, Ni coldly walked past her.

After receiving the voice mail from Kurumi, Yoshika tried to call Ni but he had blocked her number. She got to him through work and arranged for them to meet. She explained that she wasn’t actually pregnant. They had an argument, but Ni explained that she liked her even though she said weird things like that. Ni acknowledged that he wasn’t at love yet, just like, which showed that he wasn’t idealizing Yoshika. I think that interaction showed that he was uncertain but willing to give things a try, and he was well-meaning. Yoshika was a little interested and accepted his feelings. She stopped calling him Ni (because Ichi was no longer the one), and instead called him Kirishima-kun.

Like I said, Ni wasn’t convincing to me as a love interest because he pushed on Yoshika’s boundaries too hard. I do acknowledge that Yoshika began to initiate on her own particularly in the latter part of the movie. However, it felt less like Ni was engaging with Yoshika but instead, he was bringing Yoshika into his world. The implication was that Yoshika had to leave her world behind to join everyone else.

Kurumi

Kurumi was Yoshika’s work friend. They were close, and Yoshika confided in her a lot. After a work party, Kurumi got together with Takasugi from the sales department. Kurumi encouraged Yoshika to get together with Ni, saying that he would be good as a first boyfriend and wouldn’t hurt her.

Yoshika was very hurt after Kurumi had shared the fact that Yoshika had never dated with someone else. From Kurumi’s point of view, she was probably just trying to give Ni some context so that he wouldn’t scare off Yoshika. However, it was Yoshika’s sensitive personal information. She was angry with Kurumi and when she left the company, she told her about Takasugi’s resignation, which Kurumi didn’t know about. Yoshika did that to hurt Kurumi because she was angry.

During her leave, Kurumi tried to call Yoshika a few times. Eventually she left a voicemail to congratulate her on the baby and apologize for anything she’d done to anger Yoshika. Like I said, I would have found that moving, and perhaps Yoshika did too. Kurumi cared enough to call Yoshika outside of work to apologize and she wanted to keep Yoshika as a friend.

Themes

Introversion

Yoshika was incredibly relatable during the entirety of this movie. She was deeply engrossed in her own hobbies (extinct animals) and she hated social situations at work. She hated the work party so much (which I can very much sympathize with). She also daydreamed about fun friendships which ended up all being false.

Like with many introvert movies, the moral of the story was to step out of the dream world and to connect with the people that are around them. I can’t say it was executed perfectly mostly because I didn’t feel the spark between Yoshika and Ni that would have been a thread to pull her out. I found Kurumi’s relationship with Yoshika more meaningful than Ni’s relationship with Yoshika, to be honest.

But I thought the plot twist was really well executed. In fact, I did find it unusual at first, that Yoshika hated social situations and yet she had so many friends. It made sense that she was imagining these relationships, as lonely people like myself will daydream about such things.

Overall

Still a good movie despite my inability to buy some parts of it. I thought the execution of Yoshika and her story line was really well done. I’m sorry but Ni was the big weak link here for me.