Theater

I felt every bit of it. Absolutely beautiful. Had tears because somehow I felt understood watching this movie. Thankful for this experience. It will take me a while to recover from this movie fever now.

Are true artists always questioning themselves and their choices? Can you identify a genius because they are not aware of it? I would like to believe that is not the case and I don't like to make general statements if possible. In this case however it seems, that everyone our main character comes in contact with, sees something in him, he himself cannot see.

And then we have his love interest. And she complicates things even further. The inner and outer monologues and dialogs are quite ... weird, but interesting and very well written. Of course some may feel they are not that at all ... you have to decide for yourself, if they touch you or at least invoke some emotion in you.

Drama is not something easy to watch, especially with a main character that seems and feels so passive. But that can also be the one thing that makes this even more enticing to some ... viewers.

" Theater : A Love Story " is an ambitious movie.

Filmed as a theater play and narrated by the main lead, it shows the love but catastrophic relationship between two people who kept the plug on the relationship way too long. And, honestly, their good times were far less than their bad ones. The male lead was self distractive, dragging the girl down with him. The latter could have done better, but, apparently, she just didn't see the harm that she was receiving from him.

So, on that aspect, the movie was great, as it presented a more realistic take on a love story. However, while watching it, it felt like something was missing. Had it be the lack of intimacy between them (they looked more like roommates than lovers), a climax to their toxic relationship, or a burst from the female lead, the whole film felt that it was moving on an andante pace and without a proper introduction or pre-phase to the events that were happening.

That said, the leading lady was hands down, the best thing that the movie had to offer. Not that Kento didn't do a great job in this one, but she was just delightful, emotional, entertaining, relatable, and just amazing when it came to her performance. Also, the ending was brilliant and masterfully handled.

So, overall, five out of ten.

Amazing slow-paced story, the build up of characters and the challenges they face made an impact. Because this does happen in real life. In the end, you just want to know more about them.

At first, I was a bit annoyed by the male lead (played by Yamazaki), but then I remembered the context of the story. Sometimes the individual is frustrated with his/her career, is naive, doesn't have too much experience in life, so it's natural for him/her to screw up. It's hard to understand someone when yourself have troubles that you need to work on.

Both Yamazaki and specially Matsuoka done a terrific job in this film. Everyone is not perfect all the time and this film makes it clear. When you're used to watching "more of the same" or movies with certain tropes, you get unaccustomed at first with characters acting like real people, and this film captures that essence with success. Some scenes end abruptly, they lack music, but such is life. The real emotions this film invokes is making the audience put the pieces together in most of those situations. When I finished this film, all I could think about was how everything fit together by the end and I forgot I was watching a film altogether.

I hope this film gets better recognition and more people on Prime give it the attention it deserves.