A Beloved Wife (Kigeki aisai monogatari)first published as a programme note for The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2021 – Online Special The typical romantic comedy conforms to a fixed set of tropes: the meet-cute, love at first sight, a range of obstacles impeding the romance’s progress (often involving a love rival), and finally marriage…
Our Meal For Tomorrow (Bokura no Gohan wa Ashita de Matteru) fist published in the programme for The Japan Foundation Touring Programme 2020 “Everything in this world is cumbersome and complicated. It’s not easy to get what you really want.” These words addressed by Ryota Hayama (Yuto Nakajima) to his on-again off-again girlfriend Koharu Uemaru…
Yurigokoro programme note for the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (2019) “You’re going too fast!” an alarmed Chie (Nana Seino) tells her fiancé Ryosuke (Tori Matsuzaka) as he aggressively speeds to overtake an SUV on a quiet two-lane road in the woods. “No more reckless driving, OK?” This is moments after Ryosuke had told Chie how his mother died saving him from drowning in…
Initiation Love first published as a programme note for the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2018 “A rite of passage, a ritual to become an adult – that’s what first relationships are. You think you’ve found the one, and that you’re positive, but realise that nothing is absolute. And that realisation makes you grow up. You…
First published for the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2016 “Everyone is so uptight about small stuff!” Tasuku Okano (Kengo Kora) exclaims to his girlfriend, not even noticing that his immature self-absorption is driving her away. In a hilly coastal town, Tasuku is struggling through his first year as a fourth-grade teacher at the local…