He Won't Kill, She Won't Die (2019) User Reviews

Good Enough

[PennyReviews · 6/10 · 3 July 2020]

" The boyfriend that can't kill and the girlfriend who won't die " had a really strong main story. However, they didn't equally handle all the stories.

First of all, this movie is not the typical school romance film, with cute scenes and romance all over it. On the contrary, it explores themes like depression, family drama, and problems that high school students might encounter and deal with. The way the 'couples' (referring to them as pairing not as romantic relations) healed each other and provided comfort was a nice and hopeful note. However, even though the stories were intense and had depth, they needed more time to bloom. The film hardly had time to give them equal time for all of them and that resulted in either having some of the characters underdeveloped or having things happening rashly, which sometimes confused the plot.

Nevertheless, the ending was bittersweet and unexpected. And the actors did an amazing job, especially the leading lady in those final scenes.

So, overall, 6 out of 10.

Another "great" in a line of superb Japanese love stories

[celinka20 · 10/10 · 8 April 2023]

What a gem of a story! The description put me off the first time I read it, but I'm glad I had enough faith in Japanese films to give this a try. I loved the characters and how their behaviours were so realistically portrayed by the actors. All these little moments of awkwardness made them appear more courageous as the stories unravelled.

Partway through, I couldn't see how all three stories would intersect one another, and it doesn't become clear until the very end. When I did see the connection, I was moved to tears. This will definitely go down as one of my favourite love stories in Asian cinema.