The Girl I Loved is a romantic drama made just a year after the end of World War II. I'm tempted to call it a Japanese western. It is set on a ranch in the countryside and you see lots of cattle herding, horse riding, harmonica playing and even hats that look like sombreros. The plot is very simple: A man falls in love with a woman who has been brought up as his adopted sister. The story is very simple and is almost beside the point in a movie like this. The film's real pleasures come from its cinematography, location shooting and its use of music. The characters keep commenting on how beautiful the area is and they are right: it's easy to imagine giving up everything and moving to such a place. Of course, the movie is a bucolic fantasy; real life in a place like that was probably much harsher. But it's a beautiful fantasy and a very agreeable place to spend an hour and fifteen minutes.
Review of The Girl I Loved
