13th Oct 2008
Japanese Movie Review - Nodame Cantabile / ?????????
Just finished watching this 12-episode Japanese drama “Nodame Cantabile” about 30 minutes ago and I thought it really worth blogging. Great drama! Guess I’m biased as I love classical music and this drama features neverending clips/full songs of my favorite pieces. Beethoven, Shubert, Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff….. I’m familiar with most of the pieces being used in the drama, just a couple piano solo pieces and some Ochestrial pieces (for example the one by Brahms) that I haven’t really heard of. They were all great selections, probably chosen among the greatest works of these composers. The song that gets played the most is probably Beethoven’s #7.
Enough talks about the music. The main protagonists are Megumi Noda (???) performed by Juri Ueno (????), and Shinichi Chiaki (????) performed by Hiroshi Tamaki (???). Typical pretty girl pretty boy drama. I haven’t seen either of them performing before, but they are surprisingly good. Juri Ueno is young, pretty, and energetic, full of emotions, while Hiroshi is handsome and cool looking, and acted surprisingly great for his conductor post. The “RS Ochestra” (RS=Rising Star) formed by Chiaki had some great faces too, can’t really remember their names by the girl that plays violin, another girl that plays cello, and the guy that plays oboe, are all pretty good looking.
The story itself was straightforward. Here’s an excerpt from Wiki:
Megumi Noda, or “Nodame” is a piano student at Momogaoka College of Music. An extremely talented pianist who wants to be a kindergarten teacher, she prefers playing by ear rather than reading the music score. She is messy and disorganized, takes baths several days apart and loves to eat, sometimes stealing her friend’s lunchbox when it is filled with delicacies.
Shinichi Chiaki, is Momogaoka’s top student. Born into a musical family, he is talented in piano and violin and has secret ambitions to become a conductor. An arrogant multi-lingual perfectionist who once lived abroad in the music capitals of the world as a young boy (namely Prague), he is trapped in Japan because of his childhood phobia.
They meet by accident. Nodame quickly falls in love, but it takes much longer for Chiaki to even begin to appreciate Nodame’s unusual qualities. Their relationship causes them both to develop and grow. Along the way, they meet some crazy people (like Masumi, Mine, and Stresemann) and make lasting friendships. Because of Nodame, Chiaki gets the opportunity to lead a student orchestra and begins to have a broader appreciation of people’s musical abilities. Because of Chiaki, Nodame faces her fears and enters a piano competition. Opportunities open up as both begin taking risks, stretching themselves far more than they ever thought possible.
This is a highly recommended drama. Not just because it features great classical music, but the performance and storyline were awesome as well. By the way watching Ueno Juri’s performance as a silly girl reminds me of drama “Nobuta o Produce“, in which Horikita also acted in a silly way.
Oh last but not least, Ueno Juri’s personal blog has really cool design! http://www.ueno-juri.com/
Here’s the first movement of Johannes Brahms’s Symphony #1, the piece I love the most in the drama:
Just finished watching this 12-episode Japanese drama “Nodame Cantabile” about 30 minutes ago and I thought it really worth blogging. Great drama! Guess I’m biased as I love classical music and this drama features neverending clips/full songs of my favorite pieces. Beethoven, Shubert, Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff….. I’m familiar with most of the pieces being used in the drama, just a couple piano solo pieces and some Ochestrial pieces (for example the one by Brahms) that I haven’t really heard of. They were all great selections, probably chosen among the greatest works of these composers. The song that gets played the most is probably Beethoven’s #7.
Enough talks about the music. The main protagonists are Megumi Noda (???) performed by Juri Ueno (????), and Shinichi Chiaki (????) performed by Hiroshi Tamaki (???). Typical pretty girl pretty boy drama. I haven’t seen either of them performing before, but they are surprisingly good. Juri Ueno is young, pretty, and energetic, full of emotions, while Hiroshi is handsome and cool looking, and acted surprisingly great for his conductor post. The “RS Ochestra” (RS=Rising Star) formed by Chiaki had some great faces too, can’t really remember their names by the girl that plays violin, another girl that plays cello, and the guy that plays oboe, are all pretty good looking.
The story itself was straightforward. Here’s an excerpt from Wiki:
Megumi Noda, or “Nodame” is a piano student at Momogaoka College of Music. An extremely talented pianist who wants to be a kindergarten teacher, she prefers playing by ear rather than reading the music score. She is messy and disorganized, takes baths several days apart and loves to eat, sometimes stealing her friend’s lunchbox when it is filled with delicacies.Shinichi Chiaki, is Momogaoka’s top student. Born into a musical family, he is talented in piano and violin and has secret ambitions to become a conductor. An arrogant multi-lingual perfectionist who once lived abroad in the music capitals of the world as a young boy (namely Prague), he is trapped in Japan because of his childhood phobia.
They meet by accident. Nodame quickly falls in love, but it takes much longer for Chiaki to even begin to appreciate Nodame’s unusual qualities. Their relationship causes them both to develop and grow. Along the way, they meet some crazy people (like Masumi, Mine, and Stresemann) and make lasting friendships. Because of Nodame, Chiaki gets the opportunity to lead a student orchestra and begins to have a broader appreciation of people’s musical abilities. Because of Chiaki, Nodame faces her fears and enters a piano competition. Opportunities open up as both begin taking risks, stretching themselves far more than they ever thought possible.
This is a highly recommended drama. Not just because it features great classical music, but the performance and storyline were awesome as well. By the way watching Ueno Juri’s performance as a silly girl reminds me of drama “Nobuta o Produce“, in which Horikita also acted in a silly way.
Oh last but not least, Ueno Juri’s personal blog has really cool design! http://www.ueno-juri.com/
Here’s the first movement of Johannes Brahms’s Symphony #1, the piece I love the most in the drama:
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