Gekijo

" Theater : A Love Story " is an ambitious movie.

Filmed as a theater play and narrated by the main lead, it shows the love but catastrophic relationship between two people who kept the plug on the relationship way too long. And, honestly, their good times were far less than their bad ones. The male lead was self distractive, dragging the girl down with him. The latter could have done better, but, apparently, she just didn't see the harm that she was receiving from him.

So, on that aspect, the movie was great, as it presented a more realistic take on a love story. However, while watching it, it felt like something was missing. Had it be the lack of intimacy between them (they looked more like roommates than lovers), a climax to their toxic relationship, or a burst from the female lead, the whole film felt that it was moving on an andante pace and without a proper introduction or pre-phase to the events that were happening.

That said, the leading lady was hands down, the best thing that the movie had to offer. Not that Kento didn't do a great job in this one, but she was just delightful, emotional, entertaining, relatable, and just amazing when it came to her performance. Also, the ending was brilliant and masterfully handled.

So, overall, five out of ten.

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.

I felt every bit of it. Absolutely beautiful. Had tears because somehow I felt understood watching this movie. Thankful for this experience. It will take me a while to recover from this movie fever now.

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.

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!