Movie Rec: Tada, Kimi Wo Aishiteru

She used to lie very often

Love the first line. So I’m on a Takuji Ichikawa roll! But sad to say I haven’t really watched the Japanese movie adaptation of Be With You. Oh well, moving on,  Tada, Kimi Wo Aishiteru (Heavenly Forest) like other movies based on Takuji Ichikawa’s novels have a supernatural/science fiction-ish slant to it, and yes the twist in the end that would make you as Shizuru (Miyazaki Aoi) said, so happy then bring you to the depths of hell.

But first a synopsis which I grabbed from this site because I suck at summarizing stuff:

The story is about a photographer called Makoto (Tamaki Hiroshi), who travels to New York during Christmas to look for his best friend, Shizuru (Miyazaki Aoi). The two first met when Makoto attended his university entrance ceremony. Due to his inferiority complex, Makoto tends to shy away from other people but Shizuru managed to make him open up to her. Because of their friendship, Shizuru also ended up taking an interest in photography and the two often went to a forest to take pictures. Shizuru wants nothing else but to be by Makoto’s side so when he started liking another girl called Miyuki (Kuroki Meisa), Shizuru decided that she too will like Miyuki and becomes her friend. One day, Makoto asked Shizuru what present she’d like to receive for her birthday. Shizuru, who wanted to enter a photography competition, had an idea to take a picture of the two of them kissing in a forest. Makoto agreed to do this and the two kissed for the very first time. Ever since that day, however, Shizuru disappears from Makoto’s life.

The story is way beyond amazing, and I do not have a tendency to exaggerate, it’s just that this movie pressed a lot of good buttons for me. The cinematography and lighting is perfect. I love the forest scenes and the scene at Makoto’s (Tamaki Hiroshi) house.

I also love the photos that were shown at Shizuru’s exhibition, super beautiful!

Shizuru is such a quirky person, that if I met her like in real life, I think we’d end up best friends LOL! That says a lot about my personality, doesn’t it? I like her addiction to donut crackers and the way that she’s very supportive and yet brutally frank with the person she loves.

And eventhough Makoto’s cluelessness at first was frustrating with him making a lot of stupid mistakes he stopped from getting to the point of irritating and finally admitted to himself who he really loved.

I liked how there’s no real “villain” even if there is a love triangle. And that there wasn’t any bitchiness or any of that drama between Makoto’s friends and Shizuru or even between Shizuru and Miyuki (Meisa Kuroki).

This is a movie I will watch only once. But you just squeed over the movie in 479 words? You are very observatn dear reader, I’ll give you a reason, two words – TERMINAL ILLNESS.

I have sworn off any movie where a character is sick to the point of death/is dying. This movie is very sneaky, if you can’t emotionally detach yourself from the start then prepare a box of Kleenex! Although this movie is one of the most beautiful I have seen, I wouldn’t watch it again.

Unless I’m conspiring against myself.

Overall, if you want a great love story with breathtaking cinematography and cute characters (they’re cute when they’re together, trust me), this is the movie to watch!

Here’s the trailer: