April Story

This movie felt like something unfinished. It surely deserved to be developed into something bigger. But what's there is fascinating, sweet, and somewhat unique. The way it portrays the first days of college for a girl who's alone in a big unknown city, with unfriendly and opportunist people, is just awesome. I really felt sorry for this cheerful, shy and friendly girl who couldn't manage to get a decent social relationship in this new environment. The lead actress was really good and always had that "sweet and awkward" aura that's just perfect for the character. Some great scenes in this movie, but who's familiar with the work of Shunji Iwai shouldn't be surprised about that: this guy can pull off memorable stuff.

Everything in this movie is beautiful! The scenery is, the actress is, the whole story is. Although it's a very very simple love story, you can feel the internal beauty that the director want to express if you can calm very down to see it. Sometimes while seeing it, I even think the plot is no more important. All you should do is to feel the beautiful things in it. Takako Matsu is famous most because of her lovely performance in many Japanese soaps. However, we can still see her excellent performance in this movie. Meanwhile, Shunji Iwai shouldn't be forgotten. He is a very gifted young movie director. He is simply an artist. You can know more about Japan movies after seeing his works. Frankly, I love this movie completely due to Shunji Iwai and lovely Takako Matsu.

This small (67 minutes) romantic story breaks no new ground but it is like a piece of candy. Sweet and thoroughly enjoyable while it lasts. I would have liked to see more develop but I think Shunji told the tale he wanted to tell, the loneliness of a girl starting college and how she finds a bit of happiness. The sort of thing high school girls fall in love with.

"Shigatsu monogatari" (aka April Story), is one of those rare films which concentrates deeply on the feelings and personality of a character. Takako Matsu displays brilliant acting as Uzuki Mireno, a university student who experiences life on her own. The film shows the ups and downs of Takako's life at university. Despite the fact that I am an action fan and that the movie has a "strange" ending, this film did not fail to please and entertain me. I highly recommend this film for people into quiet, beautiful and emotional films.

April Story is all about how simple and sweet a movie can be. You will be at total calm, quite and emotional while watching this movie. As a university student Uzuki Mireno has done a great job. She brilliantly potrays the character in the movie.