37 Segundos

I had just finished a hectic shift at 1am and needed something to fall asleep to. I don't watch a lot of Japanese cinema so I figured this would be a good choice. Bad choice! It was so good, I stayed awake and watched the whole thing! Mei Kayama in the main role is SUPERB, as is her mother. The other actors play their respective parts very well too, but the relationship between Yuma (Mei) and her mother (Misuzu Takada) is just sensational. The movie is about a young woman with cerebral palsy who is told to get some life experience in order to strengthen her art. She accepts the challenge with both hands and tries to do the things any 23 year old woman would do, but it sometimes doesn't work out for her the way she would like due to her disability. Mei is a super cute actress and very talented. This really was a very unique and insightful film. Very touching, very innocent, very inspiring. Definitely worth a watch. It's currently on Netflix in the USA and Canada if you have a a subscription.

I only write the occasional review here. I dont do it nearly enough as I feel strongly about film as a medium and a tool to tell a story.

So i asked myself what if this was a book? Would it still work? I asked myself that as I thought of Mei Kayama performance. It is the best performance I have ever seen. It is hard to compare different performances. It is almost like comparing sports.. So one of the reasons why it was so good is that Mei Kayama's sweet voice is perfect for the sweet nature of the girl she portrays. I have a soft spot for coming of age movies. (the best one until this one was Reflecting skin) I really don't want to tell anything more. Well the camerawork and direction is excellent. They catch the right moments. I found the short scene were the camera was far away and Mei was having a talk with "the driver" was fantastic. Why I won't tell you. You 'll have to see it for yourself.

Anyway to answer my original question? Like forest of love ,which has quite the opposite form of acting, the movie is the better medium to tell the story. Sometimes a performance is so great that under the right direction no book can equal it.

A rating of ten can't be based on a single performance in a movie. There is also story, camerawork, director, other cast members. So mei's performance is perfect for me. the whole movie revolves about Mei's coming of age. and the entire cast, story, every detail revolves about that. There is not a second wasted (pun not intended)

The picture that Mei drew was perfect and I cant wait to see other work from her (this was her debut) The director/writer is one to watch too. However she has set a really high standard for herself with this. And a movie half as good as this would still be dsmn close to perfect. So i hope she (Hikari) continues to make movies like that or will be able to tell other stories with no waste. I think For Hikari the film is also about talking about people with disabilities. This is an issue in almost every culture not Japan alone though. Hikari managed to talk about it in such a way that we saw Yuma in the beginning as a wheelchair bound weak person very much because we (society,family/her mother) put her there.. And thus the director portrays Yuma like that. However at the end we see a different Yuma . the transformation is subtle. Yuma is still Yuma. Nothing feels out of place. So wlell dome director hats of... While not as spectacular visual transformation like in a david lynch movie . where the transformation is so big there is even a different actor the transformation of yuma before or eyes is nothing short of impressive.. how it all changes... well you have to watch movie. l

This is a tough watch, but if you don't mind human (and humane) stories, this will float your boat (and/or rock it). This really is about struggles and what life can be about. A girl between family and her dreams/goals. And others who may or may not be taken advantage of her situation.

This is real or at least it feels as real as it can. Which makes it either appealing or appaling to viewers. If you want fancy, you won't get this here. If a bit of exciting themes, but fighting ones demons (and other demons metaphorically speaking) is the main issue here.

I could feel everything Yuma was going through. It wasn't spelled out for the audience like most movies. This is a testament to the acting, directing and writing. It's ironic that Mei Kayama, the star of the movie, gets third billing in the cast, much like her disabled character.

It's hard for me to write a review with a lot of details because I am also disabled and it takes me a lot of time and energy to do so. That being said, it is not hard for me to sympathize with the struggle Yuma is facing, because I, myself, have to go through a similar experience.

This movie is the definition of why I love Japanese cinema - Their movies are about people, people who actually exist in the real world and no one is talking about them. Families that the majority of us would never get to experience their story otherwise or through another culture.

This movie is about real life, and how a person with disabilities slowly starts to become independent and be a part of the outside world. Obviously, it's not easy for these people, and it's certainly not something they can do by themselves, but the last thing anyone wants in this life is to be treated like a stranger and to be reminded of their "weaknesses".

Disabled people might not have the physical capabilities of a non-disabled person, and they definitely need some support and physical assistance, but apart from that, they're just like everyone else - they need friends, relationships, jobs, education, self-esteem, confidence and most importantly, to be treated like a normal human being. This movie addresses all of that perfectly and I would love to see more like this.