Always san-chôme no yûhi (2005)

Director:

Takashi Yamazaki

Writers:

Ryôhei Saigan (comic)
Takashi Yamazaki (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

5 November 2005 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Plot:

Leaving her provincial home, teenage Mutsuko arrives in Tokyo by train to take a job in a major automotive...

Plot Keywords:

First Part | Hyphen In Title | Tokyo Japan | Punctuation In Title | Based On Comic

Awards:

29 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Maki Horikita	...	Mutsuko Hoshino
Hidetaka Yoshioka	...	Ryunosuke Chagawa
Shin'ichi Tsutsumi	...	Norifumi Suzuki
Koyuki	...	Hiromi Ishizaki
Hiroko Yakushimaru	...	Tomoe Suzuki
Kazuki Koshimizu	...	Ippei Suzuki
Kenta Suga	...	Junnosuke Furuyuki
Masaya Takahashi	...	Saburo
Kaga Mochimaru	...	Yûichirô
Toru Masuoka	...	The Theatre Manager
Takashi Matsuo	...	The Realtor
Hiroshi Kamido	...	The Postman
Hiroshi Kanbe	...	The Postman
Magy	...	The Butcher
Yôichi Nukumizu	...	The Bicycle Shopkeeper

Also Known As:

Always - Sunset on Third Street (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:133 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:All | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan

Company:

DENTSU Music And Entertainment

Trivia:

The "Chagawa Ryunosuke" character is named after real-life author Akutagawa Ryunosuke. The Kanji characters of both names are nearly identical.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: Just before opening title, Ippei spins the propeller of his toy plane clockwise. When he releases the plane, the propeller is spinning clockwise. The propeller was powered by an elastic band - releasing it would cause the propeller to spin counter-clockwise. The error was noticed in post production but couldn't be fixed without re-shooting the entire continuous one-shot or re-doing the CGI. They decided to leave it in hoping no one would notice (though they revealed the goof in the director's commentary).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Alldays: Ni-chôme no asahi (2008)

Soundtrack:

ALWAYS

Gets me crying my eyes out with gladness!!!!

This piece of great film work took Japan by storm, and once I saw it realized why it had turned out that way. The film is immensely nostalgic and filled with bits of memorable moments that would send you bursting out with laughter while tears are still continuing to fill up your eyes.

The plot is austerely simple, yet the characters are smartly introduced and thoroughly elaborated. It's ultimately easy for us to believe that the Third Street community and those characters are real. The relationships between them are reasonably developed and eventually leads to a powerful and heart-wrenching-yet-warmly ending.

This is not a regular tear-jerker. Emotional scenes are not forced in as in any other movies, but effectively and strategically put into the right places, resulting in a gradual and natural emotional building.

The music and photography are flawless, and tremendously help with the holistic ambiance of the film. Acting is also impeccable.

Truly a worth-seeing gem for movie lovers. Another delicate Asian craft which has all the qualities that Hollywood mainstream movies still lack of.