arabesuku
Garasu No Nou (I'm told it literally means 'Brain made out of glass', or something like that... just 'Brain of glass'?), or Sleeping Bride/Glass Brain, is a wonderful play with the traditional fairytale Sleeping Beauty with a modern twist. Hideo Nakata has made this movie just as beautiful as his fantastic movie 'Ringu'.A love story and tragedy at the same time, a boy named Yuichi is hospitalised for asthma at age 7 but he spends a lot of his time at the hospital visiting Yumi, a girl who has been in the hospital all her life, but asleep all her life. She has never woken up since childhood. The nurses and doctors can't do anything to wake her. Yuichi associates her with the story of Sleeping Beauty and starts to believe that if he kisses her, she will wake up. So he does this for a long time, but he eventually leaves the hospital and grows up. Then, about ten years later, he sees a news report about Yumi's story and remembers her. He goes back to try and wake her up, and eventually she does. She learns fast and he falls in love with her. But can this bliss REALLY last? The acting is absolutely superb, the plot is fantastic and the emotions are definitely stirred up in this movie. It's a magical piece of cinema and it's sad that so few have seen it. I think it only comes with the Ringu box set.WARNING: This film's a real tear-jerker - it makes me cry every time I see it!
Ben Westwood
Okay, so if you're having a nice day and you don't want to watch a horror movie with your friends and you want your girlfriend to be putty in your hands, then rent this and show it to her.I was lucky enough to get this from Japan before it came out in the UK with the box set. When I watched it, I really wanted to see it for it's Rikiya Otaka at the start. He played his part great in the movie as younger Yuuchi. He was cool the way he played it.I think you should watch it if you want a sappy and good hearted romance with cute little kiddies in it and high young girl. One for the ladies, and one for us lads if we've got her on a date! Really cool, bye!
UberNoodle
Well, like probably everyone who is looking at this page, I saw this film as part of the Tartan Film, Ring Trilogy Box Set. From the write up on the case, it claims that Sleeping Bride is "thematically" related to The Ring. That can mean anything really, and because logo on the Disc was of a scary variety, I automatically, assumed this to be a horror film. It wasn't ... at all.But that doesn't mean that it wasn't a good film, it was. For a while though I though it would it turn dark .. and in a few scenes, I REALLY though it would, but it never did. It is a light and somewhat sentimental film, based on the classic Sleeping Beauty story. It explores some interesting ideas, and brings fantasy into a modern setting.The relationships and interactions between the characters, especially in school, are particularly pure in parts, and reminded me of some of the animation from Ghibli, though this is probably because the story was based on the work of another animation and comic legend, Osamu Tezuka.This film suffers mostly from being misrepresented. It has been distributed with 3 horror films, and despite the quirkiness of the concepts, Sleeping Bride is a cute, emotional character study, that poses a few questions, and can make you ponder things a little. Not scary in the slightest .. unless you count dying of of embarrassment for the main character in some scenes! ;PI am glad I saw this film, but I guess, since I consider it as "free", that lessens the pain a little more, than if I had a 5000 yen hole in my wallet, and only this movie to show for it. For an interesting look at Hideo Nakata's filmography, and for an interesting, and moving story, check out this film, but make sure you get 3 Ring films with it ;P
MegatonShotblast
I got this film in the Ring trilogy box set and according to the write up it was going to be a horror version of Sleeping Beauty and was similar in style to Ring.Its pretty much wrong on both accounts. Although the story is based on the Sleeping Beauty story I fail to see where they got the horror element from.It does have a similar look to the Ring but thats only cause its made by the same guy. But if your going in expecting a horror film then your gong to be a bit disappointed. Then again having said that I was expecting a horror and I came out enjoying it even more then I thought I was going to. Call me a sentimental old fool but when a love story is done well I really love a good love film.I'm sorry my review isn't so good but I couldn't let there be only one review especially one saying it sucked.