Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Blake Rivera If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

little-greenmen The ordinary high school students, Shiro decided to work in Gas stop without to be a university student. His parents object to his ideas, but he despite their objections. His ally is his Granma only. One day, new crew came in his workplace as a part-time worker. Her name is Noriko and he falls in love with her at first sight. However, there were some problems with them.Yuya Yagira plays well the ordinary boy. I felt close to him. Also Erika Sawajiri is so cute and matches her role, because she has mysterious atmosphere. Their living seemed so happy. Their room's decoration was so cute, and there were a lot of same small article. However love is not only sweet as a title. This movie told me it. I like happy story, so this movie made me sad a little, but I think nice movie as a whole. If I am an adult, I would understand their feelings more.

yuno est According to the title, it is the work which sweetness and a sharp taste are left on a chest. I draw the love of teenage still young man and woman.It is a performance of Sawajiri Erika who played Watanabe Noriko and Natsuki Mari who played Granma that is good. Though Noriko is lovely and loves Shiro, she can't forget a former lover. She is a goblin who is at a loss among two men. Even if she is opposite to Shiro as possible faithfully, she shakes when the former lover comes to meet her. She plays such women attractively.The character of the Granma was stuck in Mali really. She makes a lover more than 70 years old, and is original, but the man whom, in fact, she loved in old days is not forgotten. She has the pretty one side to be looking for the place of the photograph which he took.The person loves somebody and thinks the person to be the first. But if the love is over, I cry and cry and think that I come to like nobody anymore. But the next love comes over. What will we learn in the repetition?

DICK STEEL Girls are made of sugar and spice and all things nice, but of course there are those laced with wasabi that will hit you when you least expect it to. Based on the novel by Eimi Yamada, Sugar & Spice is not your conventional romantic drama, not that it's because it's not the usual boy-meets-girl-they-hook-up-boy-loses-girl-boy-tries-to-win-girl-back kind of movie, but because it takes a long hard look at a certain condition, and that's the rebound.And perhaps many would have disliked the movie because it touches that raw nerve, either you're the perpetrator, or the victim of. There are limited amount of fan favourite saccharine sweet moments, and instead, lessons dished out were plentiful, which does get try as it tends to nag. Obviously, the movie is hinging on the star appeal of the teenage lovers, Shiro (Yuya Yagira, who won a Best Actor award from Cannes with his portrayal in Nobody Knows), and hot model-actress-musician Erika Sawajiri as Noriko, and therefore perhaps paid little attention to the pacing, which turned out to be erratic, and treading on the route to art-house styled contemplation, longing and scenes of regret.Shiro is a student at the crossroads of his life - whether to enroll in cram school to prepare for higher education, or to follow a small step towards his dream of working with cars. He opts for the latter, and finds himself as a pump attendant at a gas station. Noriko becomes the new apprentice at the station, and needless to say, Shiro gets smitten by the newcomer. But the catch here is that this is Shiro's first stab at a relationship, and while he is brought up to be nice, girls hate wimps, don't they? And Noriko's no angel either, having just been out of a rocky relationship with a relatively richer guy, and now having to be stuck with Shiro. Every step of the way, you wonder if she's on the rebound, and just grabbing at whoever is conveniently available at the time. Indecisiveness abound, but more often than not, cold hard logic prevails and it boils down to practicality, and materialism.The story finds itself spending quality time with an examination of first love, and the pain that it usually brings, especially when one finds oneself drawing the stick with the shorter end. It's heartbreaking, but the story encourages one to learn from mistakes, and to move on, though it presented this thought quite clumsily. The scene stealer here belongs to Mari Natsuki as the free loving, hippy grandma of Shiro, who drives a hot rod of a vehicle and has a toy boy to boot (for a 70 year old!). She dispenses advice to both parties, and drawing on her past experiences to do so, teaching her grandson to know when to be a gentleman, and when the time's come to be tough.It serves as a reminder to all those out there who still nurses a broken heart, to cherish those (previous) memories, but not to ditch the forest for the tree. While the proceedings seem more bleak throughout, the light at the end of the tunnel provided much needed hope to lift the movie from its dark tones. And the soundtrack just puts a smile to my face too.

CountZero313 After Reisei to Jonetsu, the jury was still out on whether director Nakae had any talent. With Sugar and Spice, Nakae is found guilty as charged of impersonating a filmmaker. This is a scandalous waste of good acting talent. Yagira impressed in Nodody Knows, naturalistic Sawajiri is garnering plaudits on both the big and small screen in Japan at the moment, and Natsuki was dazzling in the otherwise disappointing Samurai Fiction. All three fall flat (with Yagira in particular mis-cast) in this embarrassing tale of first love turned sour. And why the hell is it so long?Yagira is a 17-year-old virgin who defies his parents hopes by taking on a job as a petrol station attendant. He meets and falls in love with the older and more experienced Sawajiri. Their relationship is mentored by his gaijin-loving 'Grandma' Natsuki, whose advanced years do not preclude a few romantic inadequacies. Where to begin? The film is too long. Yagira is 15 but playing a 17-year-old. There is not much between 35 and 37, but there is a hell of a difference between 15 and 17, and it shows. Yagira just looks 15. The script is trite and sentimental. Natsuki attempts English sometimes and it sets your teeth to grinding (she shouts a lot, too - Nakae should have toned her down somehow). Her Taiwanese boyfriend manages to produce the same result with his pidgin Japanese. Sawajiri just looks lost, and I'll be surprised if her agent still has her job after this bomb. The whole thing plays out like an extended TV drama. There are some clunky cameos for ephemeral local TV celebs that will baffle international audiences, because the scenes they appear in often bear no relation to the story itself. The comic relief supplied by the other petrol station attendants isn't funny. In short, the whole thing looks like an in- house video put together for the Fuji TV office party. Nakae got some plaudits for Reisei and it seems to have gone to his head. There are some pretty pictures here, but the whole thing is drawn out and self-indulgent. As of writing, this film is bombing at the box office in Japan. I'll be surprised if it travels anywhere else. Some Yagira fans may pick it up on DVD on the strength of Nobody Knows. In which case, don't say you weren't warned...