Haru no yuki (2005)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Isao Yukisada

Writers:

Yukio Mishima (novel)
Chihiro Itou (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 October 2005 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance

Plot:

Taking place in the early 20th century, the film, based upon a novel by the great Mishima, tells the story of a forbidden love...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Japanese | Young Love | Japan | 1910s

Awards:

9 nominations

Cast

Satoshi Tsumabuki	...	Kiyoaki Matsugae
Yuko Takeuchi	...	Satoko Ayakura
Sosuke Takaoka	...	Shigekuni Honda
Mitsuhiro Oikawa	...	H.I.H Tohin-nomiya harunorioh
Tomorowo Taguchi	...	Yamada, Butler of Matsugae family
Atsuko Takahata	...	H.R.H Tohin-nomiya
Kenjiro Ishimaru	...	Marquis Ayakura
Yoshiko Miyazaki	...	Marchioness Ayakura
Kyôko Kishida	...	Kiyoaki's grandmother
Kyôko Maya	...	Marchioness Matsugae
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takaaki Enoki	...	Marquis Matsugae
Michiyo Ookusu	...	Tadeshina
Mirai Shida	...	Young Satoko Ayakura
Chie Tanaka
Ayako Wakao	...	Geshuji monzeki
Kei Yamamoto	...	Shigekuni as an old man

Also Known As:

Snowy Love Fall in Spring (International: English title)
Spring Snow (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:150 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | Thai | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Cine Bazar

Trivia:

Utada Hikaru's song "Be My Last" is the theme song of this movie

sincere attempt

This is a heartfelt, sincere attempt to capture the love story in Spring Snow. It is carefully and respectfully done with high production values and an obvious respect to the source. Yes, the adaptation suffers the usual sins of deviation from the book, including here the astonishing transposition of the deepest irony from its place within the novel to the beginning of the film, thus giving away one of the novel's most striking, unexpected, and ironic moments which, when revealed, colors so much of the novel.

However, this is not my main complaint. It is, rather, that in the novel the love story takes place in and can only be understood in terms of the other cultural aspects of the novel.

In the film, the love story is abstracted from these other elements. As such, the film becomes a soap. A sincere, well made, perhaps much superior soap, but still, a soap.

Thus, you can watch this and come away with: "So what's the big deal?" Read the amazing book and you'll know. The love story is even more dramatic, but part of the reason is the much broader context in which it's occurring that, at best, is only hinted at in the film. Not to mention Mishima's exquisite description of aspects of the environs in the midst of dramatic events.

Still, Spring Snow, the movie, is superior to much of what passes for drama today.