nabil-siddiqui1871

I read somewhere that "Your heartache is someone else's hope. If you make it through, somebody else is going to make it through". That is what this movie means to me, personally. It's based on the true story of a person who suffers trauma, has a dream, fulfills their dream before their dream turns into a nightmare and they hit rock bottom. Only someone who has hit rock bottom will know what it's like and what the lead character is going through. Don't let the film's overt Christian themes stop you from watching this gem of a movie as I myself am not a Christian. The search for redemption is universal and can be appreciated by almost anyone. As one reviewer has already noted, it deals with heavy and difficult subjects, and so you must be in the mood and mentally prepared for such a movie. Criticisms can be directed at the quality of the acting especially from the actor who plays the wife and the training officer but the good far outweighs the bad. If you are in the mood for a serious movie then please give this a try.

On the face of it, this movie is about a husband who one day accidentally finds a divorce form signed and sealed by his wife after the departure of their only son when the latter gets married and moves to another city. However, the movie is far deeper than just that. In fact, I was somewhat taken aback by how deep a seemingly mundane comedy movie turned out to be. Unsurprisingly, the movie has been adapted from a novel and the movie unfolds like a novel that you are reading before your eyes.

An overriding theme of this movie, in my opinion, is that of choices and decision-making. What is the choice that I should make? Have I made the right decision? Will I regret the decision that I have already made? This theme is fleshed out throughout the movie right from the first scene to the last. Whether it is the choice of what meal to order at a diner (or a family restaurant as they call it in Japan)? What to do for a living? Whom to marry? What school to send one's child to? What to do when one of your students is having personal problems at home? Etc. The choices are as endless as the questions themselves. This is something that almost all of us can relate to in some way, shape or form.

After a choice has been made, admittedly after a lot of difficulties, what to do when we feel the inevitable regret and resentment? I once read, somewhere that no matter what you choose to do, you will end up regretting the decision. Perhaps this advice could have come in handy for our male lead, Yohei, as he starts to question the utility of the decisions he has made over the course of his life such as proposing marriage to his then-girlfriend once he found out she was pregnant, a decision which meant he had to give up his dream of going to graduate school to study Japanese literature and eventually becoming a writer, instead he has to start working immediately as a school teacher to support his new family. This is also something that some of the side characters are forced to deal with too.

Speaking of side characters, I appreciate how the writers and the director flesh them out and make them believable, multi-dimensional people rather than the stereotypical side characters of a story. I felt that the main character's interactions with them was also important for the story to develop as it did.

Overall, this is a story that imparts wisdom, is enjoyable to watch, makes you think, and stays with you long after the last credits have rolled by. Speaking of credits, I absolutely loved the song right at the end of the movie, so please be sure not to miss it.

Is reality exactly how it is always presented to us? That I think is the bigger question that the director is trying to answer with this film. The media present us with a narrative: a juvenile is arrested for kidnapping a child. Parties not involved in the incident present us with a narrative: the juvenile in question is nothing but a pedophile. However, how do the main characters of this story themselves view what had happened? Is reality as black-and-white as we might think or want it to be?

What I liked: The cinematography and score of this movie really captured my attention, just like the storyline. The story is layered with rich character development and you come to feel like you really know the character. An aspect of the storyline that I found interesting is how the person we would expect to be evil might not be and the person we might expect to be good might not be that either.

What I didn't like: The movie could have benefitted from a tighter editing to shorten it as it felt a bit too draggy by the end. The story might appear to be too depressing to some as well. Despite the rich characterization of the leads, the movie might have benefitted from an examination into why the male lead chose to "give shelter" to the female lead at the beginning of the story.

Please be advised that the movie has a few distressing scenes of violence and abuse which might be triggering to some.