Yellow Tears (Kiiroi namida / 黄色い涙-2007)

Starring:
Sho Sakurai - Ryuzo Mukai
Masaki Aiba - Shoichi Inoue
Kazunari Ninomiya - Eisuke Muraoka
Satoshi Ono - Kei Shimokawa
Jun Matsumoto - Yuji Katsumada
Yu Kashii - Tokie
Hirotaro Honda - Teikichi
Hanae Kan - Yasuko Muraoka
Chieko Matsubara - Kinu Muraoka
Mariko Miyamitsu - Mikako Yoshino
Kotaro Shiga - Hayashida
Kin Sugai - Yone
Tomoko Tabata - Kaoru Nishigaki
Mai Takahashi - Yumiko

The movie is centered around five friends as they end up spending the summer of 1962 shackled up together in a tiny studio apartment in Tokyo. The five friends are Eisuke - the manga artist, Shoichi - the singer, Ryuzo - the novelist, Kei - the painter and Yuji – the 5th wheel (?). The friends spend the summer in pursuit of their own ideals of personal freedom - being able to do what they want. In the process of pursuing their dream they learn firsthand that however ideal it may seem, its not as easy as they think. -- Lunapark6

Hmm? This movie was a little slow. No action, no sex (only by implication), no drugs, lots of silent moments and talking.

This movie was a growing-up/coming-of-age movie. It was really four guys with Matsomoto Jun making small appearances. Lessons learned, the guys realize that sometimes dreams can't make money.

I wouldn't recommend this for everyone. Even all the Arashi fans might not like this. It was not made for eye-candy visuals and for teenage thrills.

I really can't say if I like this movie or not. I feel like the story was trying to go one way but the movie didn't make the trip. Or it was made that way. Don't know. In actuality, this movie had it's poignant moments and wonderful quotes that (damn, I wish I had written down) at one point near the end, made me tear up. Okay, at that point, I was like "ahhhh!" *wipes wet soaked eyes*

Yeah, I guess I liked it. It started making more sense near the end. But in a way, it was sad.....sometimes growing up makes life a little difficult.

Arashi