Sekai no chûshin de, ai o sakebu

THere is so much to be said about this movie.

Its aesthetically beautiful. It's emotionally pure, powerful, & sad and its heartwarming as well as tearjerking. I won't tell you anything about the story because you probably have already looked into it. Well, if you haven't... DON'T! Don't spoil it for yourself. Find it somehow. Online. IN a store. Anywhere. Its amazing. Breathtaking. Gratifying. At the risk of sounding like more of a fanboy, I'll stop here.

The best Japanese film of 2004 without a doubt & maybe of the last decade.

A must see.

I hope for a region 1 DVD sometime soon.

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.

This movie is based on a novel written by Katayama Kyoichi. The first print only limited to 8,000 copies but after Shibasaki Kou (that cast Ritsuko) had read it in a occasion, she was deeply impressed and recommend it on a magazine. Hence the rest is history and it had sold over 3 million copies in Japan which beat the sales record of Norway's forest. Due to the heat of the book, the story had bring into the movie which include the top of the crew in Japan movie industry.

Ritsuko role are only add to the movie and not appear in the original novel and the original "Centre of the world" is not in Australia in the book too. However, this movie still touching my heart as I had a common feeling which as I have pass my youth in the same 80 age like Saku and Aki, where walkman is such a precious thing in that time.

The score is very well done and is emotional moving, the main theme by Hirai Ken is excellently with stirring melody.

I highly recommend this movie but sadly it is not easily available in western country except by internet selling like yes.Asia 9 / 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....

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.