Sweet Rain 2008

Origin: Japan, Film
Year: 2008
Actors: Kaneshiro Takeshi, Konishi Manami

Sweet Rain is either a bittersweet or unrelentingly melancholic film depending on how you look at it. I went in expecting a Takeshi vehicle and a cliché where Shinigami falls in love with a woman in the course of his work. I was right on mostly on the first count. It is difficult to describe this film or even pigeonhole it. It has all the trappings of a brainlessly good-looking film with A-list names and pretty packaging but is actually intelligent, sly and understated. After 2 hours of Takeshi Kaneshiro, you have dig through layers of packaging, puzzles, philosophies and loads of random humour to establish the meaning of the film.

The plot revolves around one Fujiki Kazue (Manami Konishi). There’s this journal titled “The deeply unfortunate doings of an ill-fated life” which I think is perfect for this girl. For some reason, all the people close to her die (parents, adoptive parents, fiancee, husband). Like Chiba (Takeshi Kaneshiro) she has never witnessed a Sunny Day in her life and never stops hoping for one. She doesn’t smile though and Chiba tells her she looks better smiling. Years later, Chiba meets an old lady who lives in the companionship of a robot, smiles perpetually and has an unspoken last wish before she dies.

Certainly the film philosophizes over the meaning of life and death. That much is clear.What I find trickiest about the movie is the importance of the lyrics that Fujiki sings. I might not like Fujiki’s way of abandoning her son although I understand her fear and rationale, but I like hers and Chiba’s story. My heart breaks for this girl, especially when I see her smile slipping a little when she recognizes her grandson despite herself.

We love Music too

Sunny Day (Fujiki Kazue):
What spilled out
Wasn’t a tear but a praying voice
What I looked up at
Was the sun above the clouds

I was living like I was asleep
I was always alone
Until the day I met you
I was always, always here

Even if there’s a love song
I could sing by myself
This warmth from the touch of your arms
Can’t be found alone

If I had put on a mask
Then I felt I might have forgotten
I shut away my memories
And locked them in a box

Even in that dark place
I was able to find you
Even if I can’t return
I’ll keep going farther, farther

Even if there’s a love song
That recalls loneliness
I can’t reach it alone
So I’ll walk out once more
Toward the door to tomorrow
With you…

I’ll transform sadness
Into kindness
And someday
Once I’ve set my true self free
The pain will disappear
I know it

I don’t need a love song
I can sing by myself anymore
I can’t find it alone
But with you I know
We can find a place where the sun shines
A tomorrow I’ve never seen

Courtesy of weiyingz1012.blogspot.com & sameoldstoryagain.wordpress.com