Asian Thieves Land

On the day of his university entrance ceremony, shutterbug Makoto (Tamaki) meets a fresh-faced, quirky girl named Shizuru (Miyazaki). He has a complex which causes him to shy away from contact with other people, but she succeeds in getting him to open up to her naturally. All Shizuru wants is to be with Makoto, so she takes up a camera too. The two spend their days together taking photos in the forest behind the campus. However, Makoto has feelings for another student named Miyuki (Kuroki Meisa). Shizuru decides that if Makoto likes Miyuki, she wants to like her too. She wants to like everything that he does. One day, she tells Makoto that she wants to take a photo of them kissing in the forest for a competition. He obliges for her sake, and they kiss in the forest for the first time. However, from that day on, Shizuru disappears from Makato’s life…
From Imdb

Comments :
From the writer of Im ai ni yukimasu ( that happens to be one of my favorite movies... ever), comes this new Japanese romance drama.

It tells the story of a love triangle between 3 university students ( the ambiance reminded me of the drama Orange days quite a bit).
One of them is our main protagonist. A shy, intense and mysterious young man who loves photography ( The actor is Hiroshi Tamaki also known as Chiaki sempai from Nodame's fame ^^) The second character is a shy, rather mysterious girl, who lacks self confidence but is cute and amazingly pure of heart. Did I mention she was really cute ? The actress, Aoi Miyazaki also played one of the leads for Nana 1 ( They changed her for Nana 2 because she was shooting tada kimi wo at the time) The third one is the perfect girl. Beautiful, feminine, smart, confident. She is played by Meisa Kuroki ( who also plays the 'french' girl in "Haikei, Chichiue-sama") Our two main protagonists are, a bit like in Ima, unsure of the feelings of the other one.
The score is great, especially the ending music that I have been listening on my ipod non stop for a few months now :) It's by Ootsuka Ai ( Renai Shashin).
The acting is first rate, especially by Aoi Miyazaki, the movie really revolves around her even is she isn't the main protagonist. Some of the university friends do suffer from over acting but they have a very minor role so it's not really disturbing.
The scenery and photography, as it is usually the case in Japanese movies, is very beautiful and skillfully rendered.
Yet I have to admit, I felt Ima Ai ni yukimasu was better in pretty much all aspects.
Mild spoilers follow ( I don't really say what happens in the end but you might guess it from my comments) There's a surprising twist at the end of the movie. At first, I must admit I felt a bit cheated (it is quite a common trick often used in Asian cinema, especially in Korean movies).
But then, once it had settled in, it's actually quite a beautiful ending. I still can't help but feel slightly frustrated because of what I think is a missed opportunity of character development....

I really hesitated for rating this movie between a 7 and a 8. I guess it's a 7.6. There's something missing and I still think it is because of the ending that happens a bit too fast and is not as intense as it should be.
If you loved Ima, ai ni yukimasu, you will like Tada, kimi wo aishiteru ( 'Just, I love you' or as the international title says Heavenly forest)


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