Gekijo

Amazing slow-paced story, the build up of characters and the challenges they face made an impact. Because this does happen in real life. In the end, you just want to know more about them.

Being on prime the director reaches a wider audience... and I think that is a good thing. But it probably will have a negative impact on the average rating.

The story is solid . It can be a little slow at times but that is the turmoil that is also present in the actors... at the end there is a wonderful explanation by Kento Yamazaki (Nagata) and Mayu Matsuoka (Saki). I try to watch some of the director's other movies as well. Mayu Matsuoka is a star and I 'll continue to look for movies where she has a part in it. Shoplifters was amazing and I am happy to see movies with her reaching a wider audience. She apparently also had a part in love exposure.. So I have to watch that again.

Theatre: A Love Story movie asks many important questions on life. These questions are presented in a very natural way as the story evolves, mostly in the form of Nagata. Nagata walks in the Tokyo streets for his ideas, for his inspiration, for a story that will make him an acclaimed writer. Saki, on the other hand is a tolerating woman who is growing up in their relationship and doing the right things. Do you accept life? How far are you willing to go to learn the truth? What do you finally settle for? Good questions..

Wonderful acting, progressive women, plenty of brilliance in the story and the direction and a very strong second half that will pull you in. Amazing experience. The ending is strong too but a bit challenging, unexpected and could have been done differently.

There's much to like about this, though the slowness is severely debilitating.

I ended up digging the story, enjoying the cast and becoming interested in the characters but the extremely slow, one of the slowest paces I've ever seen, nature of 'Theatre: A Love Story' just significantly overshadows any positives feelings I have for this unfortunately.

It's 2hrs 15mins and I felt every single second, by the end I felt like I had just watched a 3hr+ movie. And that sucks, because I came close to enjoying it. Kento Yamazaki and Mayu Matsuoka are very good, I am more than open to seeing more of their respective works.

As I type this my instant thoughts about this 2020 flick are actually positive, but I can't let the pacing issues slide sadly. Worth a watch, despite my feelings I'm not surprised to see others love it - each to their own, as always!

Are true artists always questioning themselves and their choices? Can you identify a genius because they are not aware of it? I would like to believe that is not the case and I don't like to make general statements if possible. In this case however it seems, that everyone our main character comes in contact with, sees something in him, he himself cannot see.

And then we have his love interest. And she complicates things even further. The inner and outer monologues and dialogs are quite ... weird, but interesting and very well written. Of course some may feel they are not that at all ... you have to decide for yourself, if they touch you or at least invoke some emotion in you.

Drama is not something easy to watch, especially with a main character that seems and feels so passive. But that can also be the one thing that makes this even more enticing to some ... viewers.