Title: Love on Sunday aka Koi suru Nichiyobi
Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Ryuichi Hiroki
Format: 1 Movie, 89 minutes
Date: 4 Aug 2006

Synopsis: Akira is leaving her hometown for Tokyo in twenty-four hours. She wants to tell her childhood friend, Nao, that she loves him. However Nao is preoccupied with thoughts of another girl, Tamaki—whose ex-boyfriend has designs on Akira. That night everything gets laid out on the table.

The Highlights
Cinematography: …
Acting: Pretty good
Story: Written really well.

Oh boy.

Here we have a movie that looks promising (at least it was for me). I was excited for what seemed to be a charming young romance story when I read the synopsis on the New York Asian Film Festival website. But alas, things that should seem to be taken care of by an experienced director (even if he did make “pink” films, according to the person who introduced the film) aren’t. Therefore, a promising experience - that lives up to some expectations - is derailed by mistakes that might get me torn apart during my freshman year of film major-dom.

Perhaps the greatest flaw to this promising film is the cinematography. I know, I’m not an expert at cinematography, but I can pick out when it’s done poorly and it’s not able to be listed under the excuse of “Oh it’s done for aesthetic reasons” or “oh yes, that simple two-shot is off balanced to show the unevenness of their relationship.” No. No. No. It didn’t look like that. It looked like someone forgot to block the scene. And then there are the hand-held shots. Now, I have nothing against the use of hand held shots. I shot a project my spring quarter and I don’t think I ever used a tripod. However, I made sure that I would either have it secure on a flat surface or, if it was really shaky, edit out the extreme shakiness. Even though Love on Sunday is not a one-minute project about a wind-up bunny (seriously, that’s what my project was), I would think that he would at be capable to shooting extra footage, and I would think the production crew could afford a tripod… and time to practice a hand-held shot. Unlike my project, this was a professional film that could take its time to make sure things were as close to perfect when the director yelled action.

Besides the cinematography, other things are substantially better…like the acting. While I’m partial to Maki Horikita’s performance in Love on Sunday 2: Last Words, the cast of Love on Sunday does a good job. The main four actors were able to take a story so self-contained and explode it to communicate it to a broader spectrum. Even though the characters might seem a little hackneyed, the actors’ performances really don’t make them seem a fantastical caricature of the types of people one meets while in school. Tamaki’s actress is a realistic priss. And Akira seems like a girl that anyone would meet. While there are some things about the story that are highly unrealistic, the characters themselves are realistic.

The story itself is the highlight of this movie, and it’s what keeps this film from completely flopping. It’s a wonderfully written story that is twenty-four hours of drama that is neatly condensed into ninety minutes. It is not too much of a tear-jerker, but it is a definitely a moving story. The only flaw in this highlight is the side story of the teacher. It is understandable why it was put in, but it does nothing to enhance the plot. It is superfluous when all anyone - or at least myself - cared about was the story of Akira and whether or not if she was going to tell Nao and Nao’s reaction. The dynamics and complexities of Akira and Nao’s relationship are written so well that to put in a trite, predictable side-story hurts the film in the end.

Even though it has flaws, this is still a watchable movie. It’s not a great movie, but still a good watch. This film belong in the genre of teenie bopper chick flicks that we grin and feel good about in the end but never really give it much thought besides “It was cute.”

The Rating: 6

Reviewed by: Genkisakura