After taking a long break from blogging, I am tempted to start again. As usual, I like to talk about dramas, movies and sometimes books.
Well, yes, this time is also about a Japanese movie that I have watched recently, called "Beyond the memories" or "Kiyoku Yawaku". This movie might not be everyone's cup of tea. Some might regard it as typical and boring while some genuine.
The story involves around two persons - Seto and Roku - with similar painful pasts, with similar guilt, how they met and healed each other with love. The past that is haunting them is that they both had someone died because of them somehow or they thought so.
The movie started off with Seto's highschool years with her childhood bestfriend Haruta, developing the story to how Haruta died. There it showed the confusion, restlessness, and also sweetness of love in teeenage years.
The story itself is intriguing.. it has lots of meaningful messages underneath such as that "guilt isn't something you can let go, but something you have to deal with everyday". It is so relatable just to imagine to have someone close to you died and you have regrets for things that you have done or have not done to him/her. When a person dies, people alive suffer most because of their grief or guilt.
The acting is also superb. When Seto broke down in front of the class after Haruta died, it was so real how she was just pretending to feel nothing, burying her emotions, her guilt inside, and yet a single event could make her break down the walls and let out everything. The actor who played Roku, Osada Masaki, was also in portraying someone who seemed carefree yet with a heavy heart from the past.
The only one thing that I felt should have been better developed was the feelings between Seto and Roku. The chemistry was there but it would have been better if they took more screen time to let them develop the relationship. However, the story was more focused on how they helped each other to heal and move on from the past.
Overall, the movie left a great impression on me with its great story and cast. I have always enjoyed Japanese romance movies because they always leave me with thoughts after watching them.
Some memories are painful to revisit but they are still good memories...
