Sekai no chûshin de, ai o sakebu

I've just seen this film yesterday at the University. As a very serious movie fan, I didn't expect anything of the film. Especially, being a typical male and the kind of person who is not too keen into romance movies. However, I was carried away after the first 15 minutes. I've been very busy lately with work but I still couldn't stop thinking about the storyline as I consistently found myself analysing the feelings and emotions from the perspectives of the people who are involved in the story. The philosophical statements in the film have also enforced a huge impact on my mind. They significantly play very important part in the story. I do not want give any more details but I strongly believe that this film should be seen by all movie goers.

Told, mostly, in a chronological series of flashbacks, Crying Out Love (forgive me for abbreviating the title) is unabashed about pulling blatantly on your heart-strings. It has been so meticulously put together however, with such charming performances from the young leads, that you fall readily into being manipulated into tears.

Saku, who spends far too much time in the office, is soon to marry Ritsuko. But on the eve of a great typhoon Ritsuko discovers an old audio cassette in some childhood clothes, which sends her back to the old seaside town she grew up in. Saku finds only a note and, whilst visiting a friend in despair, a chance sighting of Ritsuko in the background of a TV news broadcast leads Saku also back home to find her, and to rediscover the pains of an old ghost.

Once back in the quiet seaside town, Saku is drawn to replay a series of audio cassettes given him by his high school love, Aki. Here the flashbacks begin, and we see Saku and Aki's relationship grow. At first the budding high school romance is charming, cute, and most of all quite genuine. From the rather gawky and unsophisticated ways Saku acts and reacts, to the far more mature and yet still innocent Aki, the young actors invest the characters with both a sense of reality and certain nostalgic magic as befits the memories of a first love at 16.

Saku wins a Walkman in a radio competition, by the simple expedient of lying about a girl that is, essentially, Aki herself. A disappointed Aki hands him a cassette - a message - and thus begins the ongoing exchange of tapes - which later becomes a journal of sorts - as their relationship is repaired and grows, and into the tragedy that follows.

Filmed in something of a standard soft-focus with stylised lighting, the flashback sequences bring with them a look and feel of a youth long gone where the world held so much promise for the two lovers. The stark contrast of the present time, and the occasional intermingling of the two, is perhaps a tad blunt but works remarkably well. This is an intimate film, without sweeping shots or extravagance, but is invested with a warmth by the choice of locations and sets that all seem truly lived in, truly small town Japan. Other than some dreadfully wooden lines near the very end of the movie (both in delivery and in writing), the acting throughout ranges from decent to some remarkable scenes by both young Saku (Mirai Moriyama) and Aki (Masami Nagasawa).

Crying Out Love is a beautiful, charming movie which leads you through the youth of two lovers in such a way as almost guarantee tears. It's a deliberate, and clearly obvious, intent but one you truly don't mind being driven into because the journey is so worthwhile.

8.0/10

A beautiful, beautiful movie. Haunting....and got me crying (and I don't cry easily!) It haunted me for days after watching it on cable TV, and even writing this comment made my eyes a little moist. This charming movie is made credible by the performances of the two young actors. I loved them and I loved the movie! What made it even more endearing was that there was no love scenes, no sex, no giggling teenage girls, etc. Nothing like those Hollywood or HK type teen romance. Watch it with an open mind and an open heart, and be prepared to feel... BTW, I just fell in love with the character Aki. If I ever had a love in my teens, it would be her....

This is a beautifully shot and profoundly touching film about love and grief. Normally I am not really into sappy romance movies, because many of them insult my intelligence. But this sentimental drama completely captivates me and I cried and cried and cried again.

In "Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World," Saku and Aki are two high school classmates in the 80s. They fall in love and use audio cassettes to record their diaries for each other. However, this romance didn't last forever. And 17 years later, when Saku comes back to his hometown, he is still consumed by his love of his life time.

The film travels between two time lines seamlessly and never slows down on building up the emotion through a brilliant performance by a terrific ensemble cast. I believe in and feel the love between the characters, which is why I am so deeply moved by their love story.

As a rule, I avoid romance tales and this one was nearly no exception. I didn't see it in the theaters when it was out last year, even though friends recommended it. Just by chance, I rented the DVD. It is available in Japan with English subtitles. Now, after several days, I can't stop thinking about it.

Sakutaro is a man in his mid-thirties about to marry Ritsuko, a woman in her late twenties. While getting ready to move, Ritsuko encounters an old audio cassette tape she forgot she had. Though she knew what the tape was, she had never heard it. After locating a store that still sells audio cassette players, she listens to it for the first time. It takes her on a pilgrimage to her (and Sakutaro's) childhood home town. She leaves a message telling him that she's going away for a while.

By chance, Sakutaro learns where Ritsuko went and he goes there. He finds himself on a pilgrimage of his own.

I can't proceed much further, but it can be said that this is not a frivolous love story. I deals with the permanence of love in a most touching and original way. I really hope this film finds its way out of Japan. I gave this movie an eight out of ten.