Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru

Japanese title: ただ、君を愛してる
English title: Heavenly Forest

Rating: PG
Running time: 116 minutes
Now out on DVD

Some info:
1) IMDB Profile
2) Official Site (Japanese)

A nice love story between 2 people, Shizuru [played by Miyazaki Aoi] and Makoto [played by Tamaki Hiroshi]. It’s actually not a love story that’s very elaborate, but it’s Shizuru’s character that really brought this story alive.

I don’t know why there is a lack of wiki articles for such nice Japanese movies, making me having a harder time trying to write an entry properly, since it’d be nice to include some details about the story. I’m still not very good with my writing (or typing) skills. Anyway here goes:

Shizuru and Makoto first met on the first day of their University life, and that marked the start of the story proper. Due to their various own reasons, they tend not to mix with bigger groups, yet they found friendship between each other. They got along well and became good friends, just friends. Until one day [months later], Makoto’s invited by Miyuki [played by Kuroki Meisa] to join in a group. Makoto had a crush on her since the start of school, but hasn’t made any move since.

Shizuru notices Makoto’s reactions and knows his true feelings. And in an attempt to remain close to him, she becomes friends with Miyuki, hence letting her to be around Makoto even if Miyuki was around. Surprisingly, the 3 of them became good friends [it's still a triangle back then] and had many fun times. [skips some details] Time passed, and years later Shizuru found a reason to make herself able to stay over at Makoto’s place. A bold move on her part, but there were still close friends then.

It’s only after realising how much Shizuru has done for him, how much she knows about him, looking after him etc that he knew that she’s the one. However, this is when the story takes a turn and Shizuru disappears, forever. At least physically gone forever. Makoto tries to look for her, but to no avail.

The truth behind Shizuru’s whereabouts and medical condition is only revealed towards the end of the movie. Turns out she has a condition that will take away her life as soon as she matures (physically). Pretty sad, considering how nice a person she was. Though physically gone, spiritually she still lives in the heart of Makoto.

The story is quite sad and touching, but isn’t enough to make me tear. Not sure if it’s because I’ve built up some (great?) immunity against these type of stories, or simply because the story is touching but not enough to make tears roll down. The acting of the main leads were good, and it very well made the show to be what I found it to be – great. The voice-over parts did manage to create some good effects on the audience, and it further adds to the rating of the show. Also, I found the photo exhibition quite nice!! Somehow I felt that part was very nice leh. Don’t know why.

That aside, now for some other comments [you know what it's going to be like]. Firstly, there’s quite a few Canon camera models used in the show for the characters’ photographing purposes. Even I as a total noob when it comes to cameras could tell there were many, many different models used. Nice way to advertise. Oops. Secondly, the image created for Shizuru was well done, to make her look like an adult but is still kiddish due to her medical condition. Lastly, based on the tan lines on Miyuki (oops), can pretty much tell what the sequence of filming was, but of course people can argue this and that. Hic, never mind. Just wanted to be lame =P

A movie with a decent story, coupled with a nice performance by MIyazaki. This package worked well and I enjoyed it. My take: 6.5/10 =)

p.s. special credits and thanks to Dom ;)