Always san-chôme no yûhi (2005)

Leaving her provincial home, teenage Mutsuko arrives in Tokyo by train to take a job in a major automotive company but finds that she is employed by a small auto repair shop owned by ... See full summary »

Director:

Takashi Yamazaki

Writers:

Ryôhei Saigan (comic), Takashi Yamazaki (screenplay)

Stars:

Maki Horikita, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi

29 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
Tôru Masuoka	...	The Theatre Manager
Takashi Matsuo	...	The Realtor
Hiroshi Kamido	...	The Postman
Hiroshi Kanbe	...	The Postman
Magy	...	The Butcher
Yôichi Nukumizu	...	The Bicycle Shopkeeper

Storyline

Leaving her provincial home, teenage Mutsuko arrives in Tokyo by train to take a job in a major automotive company but finds that she is employed by a small auto repair shop owned by Norifumi Suzuki. Suzuki's hair-trigger temper is held somewhat in check by the motherly instincts of his wife, Tomoe, and his young son Ippei immediately bonds with Mutsuko as if she were his older sister. The Suzuki shop lies almost in the shadow of the Tokyo Tower as it rises steadily above the skyline during construction in 1958. Others in the neighborhood also are striving to better themselves as Japan continues to emerge from the shadow of war. Hiromi has just abandoned her shady life as a dancer to start a sake bar. Abandoned by his single mother, young Junnosuke is first handed off to Hiromi but she passes him off to Ryunosuke Chagawa, a struggling writer who runs a candy shop and only manages to sell adventure stories for boys as his serious novels continue to be rejected. Junnosuke is an avid ...

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Plot Keywords:

live action remake of anime | historical | neighborhood | school uniform | schoolgirl | 

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Genres:

Drama | Family

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

5 November 2005 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Always - Naplemente

Filming Locations:

Ueno Station, Ueno, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

JPY 14,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DENTSU Music And Entertainment,Imagica,Nippon Television Network (NTV)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Goofs

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).

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Connections

Version of Always zoku san-chôme no yûhi (2007)

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Soundtracks

ALWAYS
Performed by D-51
Lyrics by Yasuhide Yoshida
Music and arrangement by IKUMA
Strings arrangement by Naoki Ôtsubo

User Reviews

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.