I ‘m a HUGE Mei Nagano fan, and have been dying to watch this movie ever since it came out late last year. With the online release of it this past month, I was crossing my fingers that some blessed subtitling team would pick it up, and just today I was overjoyed to find that a translating team picked it up and released subs for it!!!
WELL, I wasted no time sitting down to watch it, and I say without reservation that I loved, loved, LOVED it!!! I had always known the briefest of plot details: That Satomi Ishihara played a mother with a young girl who hopped from husband to husband dragging her child along, but I had no idea that that would be only the mere tip of the iceberg of what a rich, detailed and lovingly crafted story Baton truly was!
I simply adored this movie and was kept quite intrigued throughout the show by its little twists and turns, surprises and reveals, and though perhaps the ending might be somewhat predictable, I found the entire story to be wonderfully wholesome and sweet as any I've seen in years!
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A heartwarming story beyond my expectation
It was fun until the first half of the movie where it gets a little bit boring because the story is too dramatized for me, it seems like it's a 10 episodes of drama made into a 2hrs movie. But towards the end, with all the revelations and the acting skills shown by the casts, it made me teary-eyed. At one point, I kinda knew that something was going on with Tanaka Riko's health and the movie didn't really show enough content about it. The reason why she really wanted to take care of Yuko is because she couldn't have a child of her own, and it was only explained briefly towards the end of the movie. After all, the spotlight is not on Riko but it's on Yuko. But I really enjoyed watching it. It's a heartwarming story about family that I would recommend to everyone who likes this type of story.Ishihara Satomi's motherly expressions are on point. Supported with the other casts with brilliant acting too. Kudos to the production team!!
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A Wonderful Tale of A Mother's Love
At first glance, I had absolutely no idea what this movie is about. I started watching thinking that it was just a normal story about a young girl trying to achieve her dreams of being a pianist.How mistaken I was. Beneath the surface lies a wonderful tale of the depth of a mother's love for her child.
To be frank it's hard to write this review without giving out spoilers because even going a bit further into the film will pretty much end up spoiling it.
To some, this may be a simple run of the mill sob story but if you actually look at the relationship of the leads, you will understand why the twist towards the end of the film is actually much more touching and memorable than a generic sob story.
I've known of Ishihara satomi's popularity but I've only really watched a single drama of hers. She's really beautiful but her acting here made me understand why she's one of the most popular actresses in Japan.
Nagano Mei is a very talented up-and-coming actress and again, you can see why she's highly regarded thanks to her good acting here.
Kurumi Inagaki who plays little Miitan will be a star actress in the future (I hope). Her acting here is absolutely top-notch for a child actress.
Prepare some tissues. Perhaps at the end of the film you may want to give your Mum a big hug.
PS: my rating of 9 for rewatch value is mainly for those scenes of Miitan and her Mum (both child and adult Miitan).
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Smile, and it will attract all kinds of luck your way
Our childhoods are driven by what we learn from our parents. Some of us don't have the luxury of knowing those parents all of our lives but the ones that take their place have impact on us no matter how small a role they play. "And so the Baton was passed " is a beautiful story about how the young Mitan manages to live a good life despite her various changes in parenthood. Do we then hate the parent for their abandonment? Is there more reasoning to forgive them? Can we call our foster parents our real parents?That is what this story tries to answer.
The story is a little complex at first as there's many moving parts to Mitan's life. Rika enters Mitan's life as someone who had no aim in life. She drifted from place to place but she found a home. That stability quietly ceases as her secret concerns start to way heavily on her. Then from this place onward, Mitan is moved around to different homes as Rika tries to better seemingly her own life.
There seems little disregard to what Mitan is feeling.Rika is played with such vigor it's hard to hate her. Throughout the movie it feels like the movie frames her in a way that we are not supposed to root for her. But it's hard not to because of the magnetic performance of Ishihara Satomi. When we are eventually clued into the full story, there's a heart crushing sense of understanding with who Rika is as a character. She's made bad decisions yes, but she was only after the best interest of Mitan. Her actions are then redefined in a more positive light adding much nuance to her character arc. These decisions still may not sit well with the audience, but that is the point.
The young actress playing Mitan does a bang up job pulling at your heart strings. We can all relate to her sadness, as I am sure we have had parents make decisions that caused us sadness in our past in some way. The young Mitan has a beautiful scene where she learns of the soothing power of the piano. When they overlayed these stories of the young Yuko in the beginning, at first it was a little confusing. I thought there was 2 stories playing before I realized what was going on. This was probably due to the odd editing in the beginning. But it made more sense after they started revealing more of the backstory.
A teenage Mitan now going by Yuko is played with heart and quiet sadness. Mei Nagano has such a soothing voice, it's really well suited for characters that are a little downtrodden. I thought her portrayal was so strong and she had so many emotional scenes. I admired how she was able to emote sadness, happiness,heartbreak, triumph in all her different tears.I think she is well on her way to become a great actor in her mature years. She's already so strong based on things I've seen in her before. She hasn't hit her ceiling yet and you can tell she's got a lot more in her future career.
Morimiya san had a strong fatherly presence that was well balanced and felt very natural. I enjoyed their many interactions during their eating sessions. A particular scene with them cooking together is where I appreciated their chemistry. The dialogue used between them also felt very natural and had that timing you get when you've known that person for a long time.
The love interest Hayase kun doesn't play a huge role in this movie. But he's crucial to include as he's the reason a few things happen in this movie. His relationship with his parents also show the stark contrast with her own parents. To be honest, he felt somewhat simple as a character. But as the focus was on Yuko this was fine. He didn't distract from the mainline plot. I'm sure if this was a series there be a whole backstory about his single mother and lack of direction.
Once the movie's plot starts rolling in full gear, the movie is hard to put down. We are strung along with hope and faith that things turn out ok for these families. The plot plays a lot with expectations only to throw those out the window. I think that's one good thing about this film. I felt they were pushing the story in a certain direction only for them to remain steadfast and keep you engaged with the reality of things. Japan's dramatic cinema tends to have these melodramatic cliffs sometimes, but I find a lot of the ones I have consumed will include realistic moments of levity. Each time we experience a little joy, there comes a sharp hit of sadness. It makes for high notes and the low notes.
Speaking of which,I would also like to mention the moving piano pieces in the movie. The graduation sequence will probably hit everyone hard. The movie's title I felt should of been something more to do with the musical motif the film had. However in context of the actual plot the baton is more apt. I do think they sort of shoehorned in the reasoning for the name right at the beginning. But it made sense in terms of Morimiya's character trying to make up for his own failures with Yuko's upbringing.
The passing of the baton is a responsibility that is entrusted to the your next teammate. It is within this trust that we work together and pass the finish line. It is important that we strive to carry this baton with our utmost care, just like the passing of you from your parents to the world ahead.
It is in that regard that I hope this movie doesn't pass you by.
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