Tada, kimi wo aishiteru (2006)

Director:

Takehiko Shinjo

Writers:

Takuji Ichikawa (novel)
Kenji Bando (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 March 2007 (Taiwan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Aoi Miyazaki	...	Shizuru Satonaka
Hiroshi Tamaki	...	Makoto Segawa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Munetaka Aoki	...	Ryo Shirohama
Keisuke Koide	...	Kyohei Sekiguchi
Meisa Kuroki	...	Miyuki Toyama
Asae Oonishi	...	Yuka Yaguchi
Misa Uehara	...	Saki Inoue

Also Known As:

Heavenly Forest (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:116 min (DVD version)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Hong Kong:I | South Korea:12

Company:

Toei International Company Ltd.

Charming Japanese romance

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is one of those light movies that is so charming and enjoyable you can't even begrudge its slightly sappy ending. Hiroshi Tamaki stars as Segawa Makoto, a university student who shies away from people because of an unknown illness. He's interested in photography and one day while taking pictures in the woods he runs into Satonaka Shizuru, a quirky waif and classmate, adorably played by Aoi Miyazaki. The normally shy Makoto feels strangely relaxed with the energetic Shizuru, and the two form a friendship. Complications arise from Shizuru being not-so-secretly in love with the oblivious Segawa, who's instead in love with another classmate, the beautiful Miyuki, as well as Shizuru's illness.

Both leads are good, though frankly this is a movie which they don't really have to do much besides act cute. Still I have to praise Aoi Miyazaki, who stole the movie. I'll be honest, I'm one of those grinches who usually can't stand the relentlessly cute and cheerful, squeaky-voiced female protagonists popular in Asian romances. But Aoi Miyazaki completely charmed me with her exuberant performance, which seemed natural despite its childishness. It took me a little while to get used to Hiroshi's Tamaki's performance, I felt he overplayed the awkwardness of his character in the beginning. But he and Miyazaki have a really nice and easygoing chemistry, and they form a realistic couple you want to root for. Supporting characters aren't annoying (if you've watched Asian dramas, you'll know what I mean).

Thinking back, I'm struck by how perfectly balanced the cuteness and unforced emotion was in the movie. Too many romantic dramedies tend to overdo the former, in my opinion, and sacrifice the latter to get a tear, by setting up melodrama. Not to say that this movie doesn't do that. The ending is the cliché melodramatic ending we've see again and again in Asian romances. Yet it works because the movie has engendered so much good will along the way and it shows just enough restraint.

The cinematography is adequate. I feel it didn't quite utilize the full beauty of the title forest(there was perhaps a little too much light in the scenes). That perhaps speaks for the movie as a whole. It's a little too fluffy to be substantial, there have been more original and sensitive versions of its basic plot line. But I recommend it, mostly because of the performance of the female lead.