Stay

"Stay" is an amazing production. It is beautifully shot, and its direction and casting are stellar.

The story felt so natural. After experiencing the opening sequence and beginning to sympathize with Ryu's despair, magic occurred. Soon, I was rooting for him to get his life back and for him to convince Hope to "stay."

The chemistry between the two lead actors, Shogen (Ryu) and Ana Tanaka (Hope), feels like watching two people really falling in love while their banter and playfulness retain the story's cinematic quality.

Glimpses into specific aspects of Japanese culture are refreshing, but the story and its themes are universal.

Writer and director Darryl Wharton-Rigby has delivered with this one. I look forward to this brilliant storyteller's next film.

Stay reminded me of my time living in Tokyo. Easy to like this movie for the story or scenery. The main characters dilemma would be something unheard of in old Japan and reflects changes in modern Japanese society. Good stuff

Stay is the story of a brief romance that occurs over a couple of days in Tokyo. No doubt many a traveler will be able to relate to that experience and how memorable and intense the feeling is. The protagonist Ryu (Shogen) has had a fall from grace as a result of drug abuse. After being fired from yet another job, he meets a foreigner, Hope (Ana Tanaka), in a nightclub and events unfold from there. Here you might expect the usual trope of him falling more into drug and alcohol abuse with imminent rescue from the fall by Hope. But not all. Instead, what develops is a warm and sincere intimacy, with naturalism instead of dramatics, even in its darkest moments, and this is what gives Stay its appeal. Shogen and Tanaka are convincing in their roles and are well supported by Natsuhi Ueno (Risa) and Shima Onishi (Bo) as the friends that Ryu could do without. An additional bonus is the wonderful streets scenes of Tokyo, many of which are off the well beaten tourist tracks and a soundtrack that put me in mind of Murakami's novels.

This romantic film's male lead is great. But the real star is the city of Tokyo.

This film is a love letter, not only between the two main characters whose brief but passionate encounter leads to something more but also to the city itself. Darryl Wharton-Rigby has outdone himself in his tender treatment of a city that might have appeared harsh in different hands and could only be achieved by a director who lives in Tokyo. I'm giving it 8 stars because I wanted to know more of Hope's backstory, but everything else makes me want to linger over Stay. A true gem!