Gomen

I watched this film on the International channel before a trip to Japan. The acting seems kind of unusual, but it grows on you, as you watch the movie, to a point that you really start to like the characters. Otherwise it is a cute story about a young boy Sei from Osaka, who falls in love for the first time in his life with a girl Nao in Kyoto, who's a little older. If you have visited Osaka and Kyoto, you may recognize many filming locations of this film. To me the most amazing one is the Sagan coffee shop, where Nao works with her father. The real coffee shop is actually located on Pilosophers' path in Eastern Kyoto, an area very popular with tourists. I happened to recognize it walking by with my Japanese friend, and the owners were very excited when I did (great coffee too!) I was a little disappointed that none of my Japanese friends had seen the film, but at the end I was glad that at least I did. The DVD was released only in Japan, but the movie has English subtitles available, so anyone can watch and enjoy it.

Since the premier of the hip and popular Japanese TV drama THE LONG VACATION, romances between young men and older women have been a hot trend in Japan. Here, we see Sei, a very sexually advanced for his age grade-school boy, who chases and attempts to bond with cute and exciting Nao, the ultimate girl of his dreams who is in junior high and is two years older than he.

Sei's parents are very out in the open about human sexuality and the fact that their son has entered the world of puberty. Gooey orgasms are produced, displayed, and often discussed -- so hide the little ones!

This 2002 coming of age tale directed by Shin Togashi was shot in Osaka, Japan, and features actual child actors (not young looking adults pretending to be kids). American audiences might notice that the film is mostly made up of long and medium shots with close-ups being few and far between. Still, GOMEN has very charming moments. It is fun and nicely paced.

Charm isn't such a bad quality -- and this film has it in abundance. While the Japanese approach to sexuality may be unfamiliar to western audiences, the onset of puberty and its hormonal hijinx is universal.

It's a simple story: An elementary school boy falls in love with a "mature" junior high school girl. There are some side stories about their respective families and friends but, in the long run, not much else happens. And that's just fine because the director and writer have chosen to focus on the kids and their experiences.

The young actors do excellent work -- utterly natural portrayals.

All told, a very enjoyable film.

Sei is reading aloud in his Primary 6 class when his pubescent body betrays him. Suddenly alert to the delights of the female sex, he develops an instant crush on junior high school pupil Nao. Nao has more than younger boys to worry about, as her parents acrimonious divorce and father's failing business mean she is already growing up too fast.

Perhaps only in Japan could a film on primary school children experiencing first love feature close up shots of semen. The biological, visceral elements of this universal anguish are foregrounded in this narrative, which still somehow manages to achieve an authentic tone that will bring back bittersweet memories for many. Masahiro Hisano as Kei and Yukika Sakuratani as his muse Nao give naturalistic, endearing performances that drive the film. Sei's torment is heartfelt and gut-wrenching. It speaks directly to your own long-buried primary school self. Jun Kunimura is under-used as Sei's father, a worldly-wise temple priest. His one moment of offering advice, along the lines of there is no fathoming of the female species to be had, is a terrific moment of father-son bonding.

Where the writing falls short is in the depiction of the two mothers. Sei's mother gushes and delights in finding her son's crusty underwear under the bed, and tells all and sundry of his entry to puberty as if he had passed the entrance exam for Cambridge. Nao's mother, in the one scene that we get to see her, turns out to be equally frivolous and giggly. It is odd that the fathers are depicted with layers but the mothers are so one-note and fraudulent.

Charming and engaging, this film delights and entertains in equal measure. It reminded me of my own long-forgotten first crushes and squirming embarrassments. Nostalgia of the best kind.