Kikyo

I saw this movie on a flight out of Japan, and what a treat it was. Kikyo (Going Home) is about everyman but perhaps a little lost in life Haruo (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who returns to his hometown to attend his widow mother's marriage. Once there, he meets an old flame, Miyuki {Reiko Kataoka) working several jobs and raising a 7 year-old by herself. After a reunion one night, Miyuki asks Haruo to visit the next day. When Haruo comes to visit, all he finds is the 7-year-old Chiharu. What starts as a quest to find Miyuki together becomes a lesson in life, love, responsibility and bonding for Haruo and Chiharu. This may sound hokey, but the movie is anything but formulaic. The acting is superb, even by the young Reiai Moriyama who plays Chiharu. I don't know if this film will ever make it to the states, but if it does, I will definitely see it again. It's hard to explain what exactly makes this movie so appealing, but everything, the camera work, the acting, the story, was perfect. Everything was in tune and everything felt right. It felt like going home.

We must have been on the same flight because I also saw this movie on my flight out of Japan (American Airlines). Anyways, how lucky was I to see a film this great on an airline flight? Its absolutely heartwarming. The movie is about an emotionally incoherent man, Haruo, who travels back to his hometown for his Mother's second marriage. Just, wanting to go back as soon as he can, he accidentally meets up with his old Sweetheart, a one night stander who left 7 years ago after sleeping with him, coming back from a failed marriage and with her daughter, chihiro. she reacquaints with him (in the most risqué of all manners)and ask him to visit her, which he does. Upon his visit to her house he finds her missing and her 7 Year old daughter left alone. From here, the story picks up as we follow their one-day adventure to find Chihiro's mother. Bonds begin to form as Haruo wonders if Chihiro is actually his own daughter.

A wonderful and heartwarming story, it touches people because of its wonderful simplicity. I highly recommend everyone to see this movie