RSSYu Nakamura – Dear
19 Apr 2009 Comments Off
in Reviews
Yu Nakamura – Dear (February 8, 2008)
Takeshobo
Catalog # – TSDV-41164 – Region 2 Disc – 4:3 Aspect
Running Time: 59 Minutes
The Skinny: This DVD, Dear, is the companion video to With You. Both were released on the same day by Takeshobo. Obviously, a double release is an exciting event for a model. While With You was mostly a behind-the-scenes look at Yu Nakamura working with the crew, this video, is much more of standard gravure DVD. Let’s have a look.
As the video begins, Yu is in the process of writing some postcards to friends or family, hence the title Dear. She seems pretty enthused about this little amulet necklace she’s bought as souvenir.
But this prelude is just that – a prelude, or something that comes before. What follows is the montage; done quite effectively with a mix of still photos and action video. When this ends at the 4 minute mark, you might be expecting the real chapters to begin. And they do, only the first one is Interview I. This too was done quite nicely with a split screen simultaneously showing Yu responding to questions from two separate angles.
Finally at 7:51 a live action chapter begins. They call it Poolside, and that’s where we go to see Yu in a bikini. She does a voice-over commentary. It takes a while before she actually gets into the water.
But you won’t mind as she’s very cute and enjoyable to watch; and you do see more of her out of the water than when she’s in the pool. OTOH, the pool segment has better colors.
Interview II follows the short dip in the pool. This time they employ both the split-screen as well as the one-shot techniques. Either way, Yu looks superb.
Following the interview segment, Yu heads for the beach in the Chapter called Shore. This is a familiar stretch of the Bali beach that we’ve been to so often. Yu’s bikini is red with a white pattern on the bra cups. She was on the move non-stop throughout this chapter so it was difficult to get some truly great shots to illustrate this segment.
Next is the Chapter called Confession. This was a single continuous shot of Yu sitting on the bed with some junk food and fruit spread out before her. She talks and the camera never moves in any direction, which leads me to the conclusion that Yu made this scene with her own camera by herself. You can fast forward through this scene unless you want hear what she has to say.
Grown Up is the next chapter. You wears a black evening dress with high heels and she looks quite elegant and sophisticated. Not much happens; it’s really just a slow walk about the hotel’s garden area ending with Yu sitting in a chair for some lovely shots. But the pacing is just right, and most welcome after that useless chapter that we just finished before this one.
Well after that they transition back to the beach that we saw earlier. Yu wears the same red bikini. But in just a few seconds she puts on a top and a short skirt preparing to leave. But wait, she’s lost something; possibly a necklace. We’ll have to see how this plays out.
The next Chapter is called Rainbow. Yu wears a rainbow striped bikini and plays a few games of Twister. Kind of a forgettable scene if you ask me, because the game isn’t that much fun when played by just one person.
Frog is the title of the next chapter. Yu goes for a walk. She finds a toy frog. She picks him up only to find – he TALKS!
Back on the beach, the Chapter called Memories is next. But it is all motion and Yu never stops moving. Confessions 2 is next and once again I’ll advise that you should use your remote to go through this quickly. Unless you want to see cookies and ice cream consumed, and a paper/rock/scissors hand game between Yu and the director’s hand.
Finally a Chapter called Pendant begins. It’s really a trip back through the scenes that we’d seen previously including, the postcards, the beach, the frog, the game of twister and this all leads to the credits which end with Yu drawing END in the sand and giving us the two fingered V sign that is so popular among the gravure idols.
We still have about 12 minutes left. So Takeshobo gives us a Bonus Track. Yu wears a beautiful kimono and is shown walking into the Balinese countryside. We see lovely fields and terraced rice paddies. And of course a sunset.
There’s still 8 minutes left. And that’s lots of time to include some excellent behind-the-scenes footage taken of some glamor photo shoots.
Summary: I really liked the video. This one, Dear and the companion, With You, are both excellent. Yu Nakamura is a wonderful looking woman and she’s high spirited and she enjoyed herself while making these videos. And you will enjoy yourself while watching. Recommended. Four point two five.
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