| Rating: | ★★★★★ |
| Category: | Movies |
| Genre: | Romance |
(Before I start, I just have to thank Yam for sending me a copy of this movie. This has to be the best Christmas present!)
Even though I did get the package a couple of weeks ago, I didn't tear it open and pop in the DVD immediately.
I promised I'll reserve watching it on a day when I could get into the whole "romantic film" mode. (It is crucial to have the right kind of attitude when you watch a love story, lest your mood ruin the whole film).
And so... Christmas day was the day I finally found time to watch Be With You.
Like my other favorite Japanese film, Love Letter, Be With You begins with the present. You already know how the story will end, but its how the story unfolds that creates its own magic.
There are just so many things about this film that I love. Of course, you have to suspend reality and believe the wife comes back to her husband and son, a year after she died.
The upside down sunshine dolls. The picturesque forest. The heartbreaking flashbacks. The cute high school crush. The sunflowers.
It's the kind of love story that makes me wish my love story was like that. Well, not the dying part anyway.
It was so funny to see the high school scene where the girl, Mio, sits next to the boy, Taku, for two years... Each of them just content to exchange perfunctory Good mornings, stealing glances and secretly loving the other person. (I can relate!!!)
"Thank you, I felt comfortable sitting next to you," is what Taku wrote on Mio's book, on graduation day. But their love story wouldn't start for a couple of years later.
I could go on and on about the plot twists and carefully nuanced acting by the two leads, and the incredibly charming little boy, but it won't quite capture the emotions they inspired on screen.
It's been so rare for me to cry while watching a movie lately. Maybe too many bad movies, or just too few romantic movies. But I felt tears fall naturally, and without the feeling of utterly manipulation.
Still, I ended the movie with a light feeling. Maybe a hopeful feeling that one day I could have my love story, too.
