Zíza

It's that Christmas-not-Christmas idyll again. Even though it takes place a few days before Christmas Eve, it doesn't really matter, so I wouldn't even call it a Christmas movie. The Christmas atmosphere isn't there at all. But otherwise, it's just a feel-good TV romance. While it may seem like it's about the heroine finding herself and choosing her career (like in 12 Gifts of Christmas, which incidentally used the same gallery and even the same cafe next door), I don't think that's really what it's about at all. It doesn't play the most important role. It's more about relationships that don't involve turbulent changes. The main character was great, the way she acted reminded me of a friend of mine, so maybe that's why I liked her a little more. Then we have a pretty handsome history teacher and boom. These two know each other and high school love never dies... 50%.

Before Christmas (sometimes since August, sometime since November...) I've been skimming all the Christmas horror movies trying to find something among them that even remotely evokes the Christmas spirit. This movie isn't it, BUT it's not even as goofy as that plethora of others. In fact, the main character doesn't act like a ditz (and subsequently a reformed ditz), but simply like a person who, while at some point she doesn't have what she wants, doesn't bitch and just throws herself into the job she signed up for. So at first I didn't really like her, but as time went on I kind of got to know that she was such a great person. Plus Andy the repairman was also likeable and acted like a human being too, not Mr. Perfect or Angry. Because of that, there wasn't really any terrible twist, no terrible fight to fix. And I liked it. It was short and breezy, with a little of that American Christmas charm. And then, of course, the fake snow and aurora borealis sucked and all... but what can you expect from a TV Christmas production... 55%.

If you're a fan of Ayumi Hamasaki, feel free to go for it. You'll be interested to see how Ayumi suffered through the early days and how she became a big time star. The series only covers a fraction of her career, but it's an interesting fraction. It shows the background she grew from, who helped her, how she worked on herself. That's interesting. But what brings it down is the format – it’s weirdly edited, the script isn't exactly the best (like it just skips over something somehow without explanation or hints, and I think I can figure a lot of that out). Another bad thing was the acting by Anzai KaLen (I get it, good as a singer, but as an actress... she better either quit or work on her acting), who basically dragged down everyone else's acting as well. Eventually, it seemed to me that no one really felt like trying anymore. Add to that the weird character of Reika who was unnecessarily psycho, the story would have been much more interesting without her psycho appearances. Not to mention the miraculous psych-out at the end... The idea is fine, for an Ayumi fan I'd say it’s a must, but for the rest of the audience... at most before bedtime.