Hello, and welcome to an extra special little corner of PVS.
If you've read the site at all, you know three things:
1) PVS is a superb graphics site. *cough*
B) PVS is also an important resource for Arashi information. *hackcoughwheeze*
Δ) I whore Matsumoto Jun more than he whores himself. *no phlegm necessary*
Given these three things, I don't think that I can let MatsuJun's latest drama, Smile, pass without some sort of commentary.
I R SRZ ACTOR Jun
Now, I won't give my opinion of the drama here; if you're interested in that, you can read it at the end. Instead, I wanted to talk about one of the more noticeable aspects of the Smile drama. That is, MatsuJun had to do several emotionally vulnerable scenes that required him to push his limits as an actor and...well...cry.
A lot.
If you know anything about acting, you know that it's actually kind of hard. You don't just CRY (unless your name is Aiba and ice cream is involved). Instead, you have to psyche yourself up for the scene and take yourself some place so emotionally overwhelming that you are able to cry freely in front of a cast and crew.
So you might be thinking to yourself, "Gee, I wonder what MatsuJun used to give us so many emotionally vulnerable scenes?" AHA! Guess what? I happened to find an interview MatsuJun gave to Hibi Mousou, a somewhat obscure Television and Film Magazine in Japan, where he was very candid about his inspiration. (You probably didn't see it - there were no accompanying scans and it wasn't the featured article.)
However, having read that article, I can now say to you...
Arashiland Presents PV Series Presents Matsumoto Jun's Thoughts Behind Every Crying Scene in Smile!
PS - Uh, might be accidentally slightly spoilery? Don't read if you're very sensitive and still haven't seen Smile.
Let's begin now~
MatsuJun: Loneliness - I channeled what it would feel like to be completely alone.
MatsuJun: And what it's like to lose people you love, if all your friends stopped calling. And you have no one to eat yakiniku with. Or drink with. And how I always have to eat over the sink because there's no one else to eat with.
MatsuJun: Growing up, people always made fun of my features and how I looked.
MatsuJun: For my fifth birthday I asked for a pony and I got a firetruck instead.
MatsuJun: All I wanted was a pony! A PONY!
MatsuJun: And no one understands how hard it is to be me. The other day Aiba stole my prettiest pair of socks-
MatsuJun: And I get terrible backaches all the time-
MatsuJun: When I go to sleep, the sparkles, they're still there and they never go away-
MatsuJun: And I'll never get the chance to rule Sweden-
MatsuJun: It's so hard being pretty!
MatsuJun: NOOOO! THEY BE TAKIN' MAH BUCKET!
MatsuJun: I accidentally touched a homeless person on the way to work - am I going to get Homeless Flu?!
MatsuJun: Nino told me this wig makes me look fat, dirty, and poor. Is that true?
Well I th-
MatsuJun: You've...you've said enough.
MatsuJun: Michael Jackson's dead?
MatsuJun: Michael Jackson's dead?
MatsuJun: Really?
MatsuJun: I had tickets to his latest tour...
MatsuJun: I DON'T WANT TO GO ON ANOTHER PRETEND DATE WITH OOSHIMA!
MatsuJun: One time I got this fanletter in the mail and it was about how I was such an inspiration to people all over the world and how I was really cool and awesome and everyone wanted to be me and how I light up everyone's life and make it worth living and how they think Japan sucked before I was born because it wasn't nearly as awesome and cool and even though there were sad things in the world, my talent and work and smile made everything okay and happy again and how people will work hard and try their best and smile because of me.
And then I realized it was addressed to Sho.
MatsuJun: My mom thinks my sister's prettier...
Speaking of which, did you know? MatsuJun's sister was actually in Smile.
True fact! She had an uncredited cameo in one of the scenes in Episode 3. They were shooting all the scenes in the street where MatsuJun's and Nakai Kiichi's characters talk about Vito's life and what it means to be different in a Japanese society - you know they're at a food stand and eating and drinking and all those people are walking around in the background?
Okay, after that.
MatsuJun's sister makes her onscreen debut cameo!
I believe she was playing a half Vietnamese hooker.
Man...how does MatsuJun keep from going all Boku wa Oneesan ni Koi wo Suru on that?
And that, my friends, is Smile. Rather, it's a skewed version of Smile; see, you're tempted to joke about how, wow, for a series called Smile there sure is a lot of crying! Well there is, but the bulk occurs in the last three or so episodes; you go for a span of four without a single tear!
You can now either scroll down to the bottom there and get back to the other pages or, if you're insanely curious, or just insane, you can read my opinion on Smile.
Sadly, this is not an entirely complete Crying Count of Smile. I think I missed an instance or two.
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Quickly, fighting my tl;dr tendencies...
I actually liked Smile quite a bit. I know what you're thinking - "Aha, Fabby Whore! Of course you did!" To which I would concede, except for the fact that what I liked about the series wasn't MatsuJun.
Now, granted, I think he gave an overall admirable performance; what I liked about his participation was that it showed some honest potential, a hope that he'll actually get better as an actor. I think the steady diet of over the top manga roles were really good showcases for him, but not the best in terms of learning experiences. (Aka, why Matsumoto Jun attacks every role like a Retarded Puppy.) Was it a "Best Actor" performance? No. But again, some applause must be given to the sheer amount of vulnerability displayed; that's still impressive. Even if his crying made you feel like you were accidentally transported into five-year-old Jun's bedroom, with the choking little boy bitch sobs. Maybe on purpose given Vito's character, probably what MatsuJun actually sounds like when he cries - nonetheless, sometimes distracting and unintentionally funny. (At least he was willing to ugly it up for the role - let me tell you, the crying scenes, they aren't pretty. And there was an extreme lack of make-up too. Kudos for at least going more for reality than idol-ality, you know?)
The majority of the rest of the principle cast was amazing, though, and the selling point is Oguri Shun's performance. Line this kid up for work that will get more global recognition, please. So all in all, that was enjoyable. What I liked about Smile, though, was its scathing depiction of Japanese society regarding discrimination and prejudice. No, I'm not talking about the whole half-breed business; sure there was that and it was forefront, but it was the superficial line so you thought you were watching a freak show about how other races are treated in Japan. In all actuality, Smile spent a lot of time pointing a finger at the predisposition to judge people in every day instances, no matter who they are. It just used Vito as a vessel.
Besides that, the show ended up playing with a lot of standards. One in particular was playing upon the stereotypical characters that made up the jury. Another was the reversal of gender roles when it came to Hana-chan and Vito, with the actually damaged Hana-chan being the "rescuer" for most of the series. This gender play was highlighted in Vito's relationship with Hayashi (Oguri Shun's character), which was extremely abusive, especially emotionally abusive. Maybe that's what I loved most - it depicted emotional abuse realistically and unflinchingly.
Cheese aside (it's still a JDrama at the end of the day), Smile offered a lot to chew on, if you were willing. That, I appreciate. It wasn't perfect, but it was more stimulating than typical JDrama fare. My friend, the oft-mentioned Riva, pointed out, though, that I read the series with a very "Western" (or even American) understanding; it's all well and good, but people don't like their escapism too serious, or too damning, and that may be why the series did poorly. A good point, but regardless of how I read it, I had something to read. So, for that reason, I like Smile. I like Smile quite a bit. (As an aside, it might actually be more interesting for Americans since it is a mirror on discrimination and sort of offers America as the standard when it comes to "overcoming racism." Mmmm, thought fodder.)
Well...
All that is true.
But maybe...just maybe...
Being a whore for all things MatsuHips didn't hurt either.
MWA!
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