Taiyou no Uta
Starring
YUI as Amane Kaoru
Tsukamoto Takashi as Fujishiro Kouji
Toyama Airi as Misaki
Asagi Kuniko as Amane Yuki
Kishitani Goro as Amane Ken

Taiyou no Uta stars YUI as a 16-year-old teenager with a skin condition called Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), which makes the body weak to UV rays, so going out in the sun is very harmful. So instead of sleeping at night and going out in the day time, she sleeps during the day and goes out at night. Every night, she goes out to the train station and plays her guitar and sings. She’s always careful to come back well before sunrise. From her window, she has a good view of the bus stop and every morning, she sees a guy (played by Tsukamoto Takashi) waiting there with his surfboard for his friends to come. By chance, one night while she’s playing, he walks past the train station. What follows is a sweet story of innocent love.

The question you should ask is not “was it good?” but rather “why was it so good?” Because let’s admit it, at face value, Taiyou no Uta is a very cliche type of Asian film. First off, it’s about a young girl battling a fatal disease. Why the Japanese love stories about dying teenage girls is a mystery to me, but they do. They just love it. Second, this type of innocent and pure love story is also very popular among viewers. A young sweet first-love type of story really appeals to people in today’s modern society. And lastly, the lead actress is a singer-musician by trade and her character just happens to be a wannabe singer-musician. I watched this movie the other day again, but my sister watched for the first time. And when the scene of Kaoru first going to the station to play came on, she groaned and said, “of course the girl in the movie is a singer too!!”

But even in the midst of these cliches, Taiyou no Uta just works. For me, YUI is Kaoru. She did the street musician thing before and it’s very obvious while watching the scenes of her performing. Also, YUI’s vocals consistently have a very honest feeling, and I think it is this quality that radiates through her character of Kaoru to give it a very real feeling. I was also equally impressed with the rest of the casts’ performance. I’ve only watched a few other things with Tsukamoto Takashi in it, but I noticed that they were all overly arrogant-type characters, so it was interesting to watch him in a relatively mellow role. The addition of Kaoru’s parents as integral characters was a nice touch as well, since many dramas and movies seem to just side-step the parents.

I also watched the drama version of this movie, and the route they decided to go was for a more modern feel. The movie, however, depicts a much more innocent and pure type of first love. The thing I didn’t like about the drama was how the writers took away the very pure feeling and replaced it with tons and tons of over the top drama. By adding it in, it made the story feel more cheesy and less real. I like the simplicity of the movie.

Overall, Taiyou no Uta is a beautifully shot film with a touching storyline.

Buy this movie: HK DVD | J Premium Edition

Shinku

Starring:
Uchiyama Rina as Kako
Mizukawa Asami as Miho
Kohinata Fumiyo as Kako’s father
Ogata Naoto as Miho’s father
Uchida Asahi as Akira
Tsukamoto Takashi as Takumi
Horikita Maki as young Kako

I recently watched a movie called Shinku. It’s about two girls. One is a college student whose family was murdered (Kako); the other is the daughter of the man who murdered the other girl’s family (Miho). Eight years after the murder, he is finally sentenced to death. Kako is now a pretty college student with a boyfriend and plenty of friends. Miho is a tattooed bar owner married to an unfaithful and unkind man. Kako wants to meet Miho and she starts visiting the bar that Miho owns. The two form a kind of friendship, but Kako seems to have something else in mind, a revenge of some sorts.

I really like the cover. It’s so beautiful and I love how Mizukawa Asami (Miho) looks so tragic, while Uchiyama Rina (Kako) looks calculating. Also the use of colors and the lighting on the two leads is just gorgeous.

This film is actually quite gory at some parts. Even though I don’t usually get very grossed out at blood, it got to me a little. Well, the film is called Shinku (deep red), naturally the color played a large role in the film’s palette.

Despite its goriness, I really enjoyed this film. The two leads give a very good performance and the two timelines fit in rather well. The movie flips between the past and present, so while we are watching Kako and Miho’s relationship grow, we are also finding out why Miho’s father murdered Kako’s family. The scenes with young Kako are especially interesting and the dream/subconscious conversation she has near the end is particularly compelling.

Something that I kept wondering about while I was watching was if Miho knew who Kako was. If she did, would their relationship have been different? And when did she find out who Kako was? I also wondered if Kako knew what her father did, because he is not exactly innocent. I think this film was successful in its crime and punishment/revenge exploration.

I don’t really want to give much away, but I will say that Shinku is an excellent film to watch. Definitely heavy but a very good physiological thriller. Some sites have called this a horror film, but I don’t agree. I strictly stay away from horror films (I even turn away from horror film trailers!), so I think it’s safe to say that if I don’t think it counts a horror film, it really isn’t. When I first read the synopsis, I thought that this movie had to be good, and I’m glad it was (otherwise I would have just wasted my time, right?)

Buy this movie: J Standard Edition