This review may contain spoilers
How would you spend your last days?
I will say you will need a few tissues for this movie. There's so much heartbreak and loss. I felt like they really piled it on in this movie lol. But it was worth the ugly crying.
The main story follows a scenario in which you are allowed to live but in order to do so, you lose something forever. It's a really smart plot device that even though it's implications are vastly underscored, it proves a point. The smallest things we take for granted are more important then you realize. We spend the entirety of the movie examining the impact every decision we make has on our lives. That is the important message of this movie. We never really know when it's our time and we never really see sometimes what lead us to that point.
The acting by Takeru is believable and sound. I don't think I really enjoyed his devil persona take. But that's just me. His father and mother are aptly acted and put real emotion into our hearts. The father character is one of those strong characters that didn't have a lot of screen time but you understood his purpose well. It put into perspective strained relationships with family in a nuanced way. Especially with the final scene being so perfectly executed. Having Aoi as a support character is never a bad thing either in these types of movies. I really enjoyed her scene at the waterfalls with her. Tatsuya's scene in the movie rental store was god damn heartbreaking.
The Cinematography is great. There were beautiful consecutive shots and a little humor in between which was great. The shots in the other country were dreamlike and captured that feel of escapism well. There is also fantastic rain scenes in this movie. The mesmerizing piano and organ that plays throughout helped pull the movie together. It was a good use of reoccurring theme to help the main MC's feelings get realized.
The end theme is simply haunting. I think this movie is one that should be watched by many.
The main story follows a scenario in which you are allowed to live but in order to do so, you lose something forever. It's a really smart plot device that even though it's implications are vastly underscored, it proves a point. The smallest things we take for granted are more important then you realize. We spend the entirety of the movie examining the impact every decision we make has on our lives. That is the important message of this movie. We never really know when it's our time and we never really see sometimes what lead us to that point.
The acting by Takeru is believable and sound. I don't think I really enjoyed his devil persona take. But that's just me. His father and mother are aptly acted and put real emotion into our hearts. The father character is one of those strong characters that didn't have a lot of screen time but you understood his purpose well. It put into perspective strained relationships with family in a nuanced way. Especially with the final scene being so perfectly executed. Having Aoi as a support character is never a bad thing either in these types of movies. I really enjoyed her scene at the waterfalls with her. Tatsuya's scene in the movie rental store was god damn heartbreaking.
The Cinematography is great. There were beautiful consecutive shots and a little humor in between which was great. The shots in the other country were dreamlike and captured that feel of escapism well. There is also fantastic rain scenes in this movie. The mesmerizing piano and organ that plays throughout helped pull the movie together. It was a good use of reoccurring theme to help the main MC's feelings get realized.
The end theme is simply haunting. I think this movie is one that should be watched by many.
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