Sekai no chûshin de, ai o sakebu (2004)

Director:

Isao Yukisada

Writers:

Kyouichi Katayama (novel)
Yuji Sakamoto (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

8 May 2004 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

While searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.

Plot Keywords:

Flashback | Love | Fiancee | Memory | Graveyard

Awards:

9 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Takao Ôsawa	...	Sakutaro Matsumoto
Kou Shibasaki	...	Ritsuko Fujimura
Masami Nagasawa	...	Aki Hirose
Mirai Moriyama	...	Sakutaro Matsumoto (High School)
Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Shigezou Matsumoto
Kankurô Kudô	...	Ryunosuke Ooki
Kanji Tsuda	...	Johnny
Issei Takahashi	...	Ryunosuke (high school student)
Rio Kanno	...	Ritsuko (girl)
Tetta Sugimoto	...	Aki's Father
Katsutaka Furuhata	...	Johnny (high school)
Kenta Uchino	...	Classmate
Aki Nishihara	...	Classmate
Masaru Miyazaki	...	Classmate
Marie Kawaguchi	...	Classmate

Also Known As:

Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World (International: English title)
Crying Out Love, in the Centre of the World (Hong Kong: English title) (DVD title)
Shouting Love from the World's Center (International: English title) (informal literal title)

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:U | South Korea:12 | Hong Kong:I | Singapore:PG

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Sekai no Chushin de, Ai wo Sakebu, a Japanese romance novel by Katayama Kyoichi, sold over 3 million copies in Japan alone.

Movie Connections:

References Jing wu men (1972)

Soundtrack:

Hitomi wo Tojite

Acclaim from single European male in mid-thirties.

I have just returned from holiday and had the unexpected chance to view this film during a 13-hour long plane flight. It was admittedly one of 60 movies on offer - mainly in English. I once lived in Japan for several years and couldn't help but draw some parallels to my experiences and relationships whilst living there. The title does not become fully clear until you have seen the entire film so I will not spoil it for you - the best thing is to approach the film with a completely open mind, with as little knowledge of the plot as possible. Suffice to say that I found this movie captivating from the very beginning, evocatively scored (the piano music really hits the spot), beautifully photographed, and the leading characters are all sensitively portrayed by the Japanese actors and actresses involved, many of whom will not be familiar to movie-goers outside Japan. Although it runs for almost 2 hours I found that the film never dragged and developed the story and characters at a realistic pace. I was touched by this moving story so much that it had me crying too !