Kimi no tomodachi (2008)

Director:

Ryuichi Hiroki

Writers:

Hiroshi Saitô (screenplay)
Kiyoshi Shigematsu (novel)

Release Date:

26 July 2008 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Anna Ishibashi	...	Megumi
Ayu Kitaura	...	Yuka
Yuriko Yoshitaka	...	Hana
Seiji Fukushi	...	Nakahara
Naoyuki Morita	...	Bun
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tokio Emoto	...	Sato
Hanae	...	Kotono
Yoshiko Miyazaki
Mami Nakamura
Nao Omori
Tomorowo Taguchi

Also Known As:

Kimi's Friend (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:125 min | South Korea:114 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:All

A close look at friendship

Charming is the first word that comes to mind, even after a few minutes watching. At the end it is still valid. I often use this word when children play grown-ups to the wall as it happens in this film. Although – there are hardly any grown-ups at all. Two girls at the age of ten, both with a physical handicap meet at school and become life-long friends. That is… but I don't want to tell too much of the story. We see not only the gestation of their friendship but also other school comrades dealing with them and having other experiences with their friends. The whole story is told in flashback – one of the girls took pictures and these pictures are now the door to these episodes.

The director is known to have been working in Pink films and this is his first complete departure from this genre. Maybe this is the reason why everybody in the film is beautiful and hardly any one is of old age. Sometimes he uses corny Japan-Pop songs which is annoying. On the other hand he often uses long scenes in wide angle photography with the characters very far away. The whole film has a warm feeling, the colors are warm and many scenes are shot in the golden light. All in all a satisfying and positive movie.