Yomigaeri

This is NOT a horror film. When a decades long missing boy returns to his mother a ministry official is sent to investigate. Soon more dead people begin to return to their loved ones.

What is the nature of longing, of human needs and of mourning. What would you do if that person you've missed finally came back? These are some of the questions that this intriguing movie raises.

Sentimental.touching. heartwarming, harrowing, contrived and yet completely and almost compulsively watchable. Think of it as something similar to Field of Dreams but not just for guys, or going into that purely sentimental direction.

This is a one of a kind film that really should be seen

Maybe it was the physical situation I was in, strapped into a bucking 'plane, on my way from my loving family to a family reunion, but this made me cry non-stop. I watched this in total darkness, straining to read the subtitles off a tiny in 'plane "entertainment unit". My brother, sitting next to me, without any of the emotional baggage (his "family" is less "loving" than mine!) kept asking me what was the matter! The twists and turns in the storyline should reward the most demanding mystery fan. The power and passion in the love story should satisfy the most romantic. I watched this three times in four flights, and it gave me everything I needed, every time I watched it. Now I've just got to convince a local company to provide me with a DVD!!

I absolutely LOVED this movie! The stories (and there are several in the film) are not only (dare I say it?) heartwarming, but some have twists I didn't see coming. A story of love and the different meanings of "resurrection", YOMIGAERI strikes me as nothing less than a Japanese Spielberg film--complete with soaring John Williams-like score. There are also a couple of pop songs that are actually relevant to the plot. I'm sure there are those who consider this movie hopelessly sentimental, but it's an honest sentimentality that only the Japanese seem to be able to pull off. (See AFTER LIFE and SHALL WE DANCE?--if you haven't already--to see what I mean.)

The dead were here because they wanted to let the alive know the meaning of their lives. When they went away, everyone found themselves a new way to live on. Yomigaeri just shows these all.

The child lost in the wood, the wife died from pregnancy, the school student who suicided himself......those we missed so much suddenly came in reality. They dug out the emotion that we didn't pay attention to or were ashamed to express, and the feeling was so precious now.

The flame of love between the leading actor and actress finally appeared. If they didn't experience this event, they probably lost each other. Love is of great power, especially in front of death. Although the time to be with each other was short and farewell was at hand, it was enough.

This is actually a very nice movie with good actors, a very imaginative plot and some great cinematography. But the extremely melodramatic music made some scenes almost impossible for me to take them serious, although this definitely is a serious movie about love and death. A bit more humor would have helped to increase the overall impression, though.