[Movie] Nada Sou Sou

[Moved from my old blog.]


This will be the longest, spoiler-filled review you would ever read, I suggest you just skip this crap. I just want to review it... but if it is not read, it would be the best.

I thought since I typed out something that long, if I don't post it up here, it would be just a waste.

Starring: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Masami Nagasawa, Takashi Tsukamoto…

Movie

The story is kinda set in Okinawa. The subs were horrible, so I kinda had to not rely on the subs…

The movie commenced showing a diligent, optimistic young man named Yotarou working happily as a veggie deliverer. He sends veggie to shops on a bicycle everyday, although he is very, very poor, his home is this wooden shack with a leak, he lives on with no complaints.

One fine day, as usual he was delivering veggies to old women, he happily announced that his sister is arriving from the countryside to go to high school and live with him. Here, the scene flashes back to a young Yotarou being introduced to his sister. His mother was marrying her father. Her father left not long after, and his mother died. They were both raised by his grandmother until Yotarou decided to venture out of the countryside to work.

Scene comes back to the present. Yotarou nervously introduced his sister, Kaoru to his girlfriend, Keiko, a medical student at the Ryukyu University. Kaoru was visibly disappointed but hid it well from Yotarou.

Yotarou’s dream has always been to own a restaurant, thus he worked hard and at first he received help from a swindler who cheated him off all his money. Things went downhill after this. He decided breakup with Keiko as he soon found out that he and Keiko are of different… caste, so to speak. Keiko’s father owns a hospital and she was on her way to become a big-time doctor while Yota was a poor, penniless laborer.

Kaoru, his only family has decided to live separately with him after she realized that it was impossible to control her feelings for her ‘Nii-nii’. She also thought that she was a burden for him, who was always working so hard to support Kaoru. Although they were not blood related, Yota has taken good care of her, raised her into adulthood.

Yota reluctantly agreed after discovering that it was Kaoru’s father that advised her to do so. Yes, that good-for-nothing father who abandoned them. Right before Kaoru left, she sorta confessed her feelings for Yota… who kinda… pretended to not understand. A tearful goodbye ensues.

Yota continues to work excessively for… some reason. One day, news reported that a typhoon would hit… Okinawa (?) [Remember, I was watching without subs…] and Yota was in a fever that day but still went under the rain to make sure that Kaoru was fine. He was admitted to the hospital not long after due to high fever. The doctor explained something about the flu virus spreading to the heart, and his immune system was also failing prior to the flu. Thus his heart was kinda… slowing down.

Then he died. Then you heart Kaoru’s annoying ‘Nii-nii’ screaming, which divert the sadness you were feeling away. You were really touched by all Yota did for Kaoru, then the NII-NII just ate your sadness away and replaced them with annoyance.

His funeral was held back at the countryside. After some crying on Kaoru’s part, a postman delivered a package for Kaoru. Inside, was a kimono and a letter from Yota. Yota explained that he was going to attend Kaoru’s coming of age ceremony and bought a beautiful kimono for her to wear on that day.

I shall assume that Yota was working hard to buy that kimono for Kaoru. Cos I heard that kimonos cost a bomb. T_T It was really kinda sad. But the subbing killed the atmosphere for me. Get some nicely subbed version and it is definitely a movie to enjoy.

The ending theme was “Nada Sou Sou” by Rimi Natsukawa. The whole thing had an Okinawan feel to it, the actors spoke funny, which I should assume is the Okinawan accent.

Note: Nagasawa won a WORST actress award for this movie. You can’t blame her though, it was her first movie. I recently saw Tsumabuki in “Lunch no Joou”. He was most certainly better looking back then. Tsukamoto was casted as the protagonist’s best friend, his screen time was way too little.