After the Rain

Can't say that I liked this movie. The story was okay, but it was boring. The romance wasn't so much of a romance really, as the guy was well aware of their age gap and he didn't want to fall for a minor. Also, it was obvious that the girl didn't love him because of who he was, rather, she was attracted to him because she had lost the most important thing in her life: running. So, like I said, the theme was interesting. The presentation of the theme wasn't. Nana is a so so actress for me. She doesn't show a variety of emotions and I find her tiring to watch after a while, as she is passive. But I can't say that her acting is terrible. But she was one of the reasons why this movie was not entertaining. The rest of the performances were really good, especially from the male lead. The ending was nice too.

I have watched the Anime, and the animated version created a superb setting for this story with lots of tender moments for a topic that is slightly controversial about a coming of age young girl falling in love with a much older middle aged man. If you have to compare, then it has much of a similar theme of the movie "Lost in Translation" with a teenage Scarlett Johansson admiring the much older Bill Murray who eagerly shares his life experience with her while maintaining a pure and platonic relationship.

While the first half of the movie was at times almost an exact copy of the Animated version, and that made it lacked some soul and authenticity. As it was like trying rapidly going through memorable scenes from the Anime script by script. But I liked how the director changed the second half of the movie to differ a bit from the Anime, with its own take on some scenes and making the movie stand out more on its own. But it never lost the essence of the story, especially the ending captured the emotions very well that we all so much liked about the Anime for in the first place!

It's a cute movie about a high school girl becoming infatuated with her 45 year-old boss at her part time waitress job. They develop an unusual friendship. It's perfectly innocent though and there isn't even a hint of anything indecent. The characters are very likeable and the movie is a wholesome, nice feel-good experience.

I watched the anime and fell in love with it. I was expecting a little more finesse with the acting. The anime had a sense of delicateness with it's approach, that was not present in the movie. The male lead really did not capture the character of Kondo. He seemed loud and obnoxious in here. Which bugged me, his lines were sometimes blurted out. I think Kenichi Matsuyama would've been an awesome choice for this role knowing how he played in Usagi Drop. Nana was perfect for the role. She also did well in projecting Akira's character. The story is as good as it can be. I still love the concept of losing and finding. Of how they interacted with each other and reacted with regards to their feelings. It's a great story. Sadly I would have loved if it would've been acted better, and if the hue and colors were a little brighter.

Now, as much as I do enjoy Asian cinema, then I found "After the Rain" (aka "Koi wa ameagari no yô ni") to be somewhat of a swing and a miss from writer Riko Sakaguchi and director Akira Nagai.

Why is that? Well, because the movie was unfathomably slow-paced with very little of any entertainment happening throughout most of the movie. Sure, the movie was very well acted and the characters definitely were interesting, but boy the pacing of the movie was a killer.

In fact, it was so atrociously slow-paced and uneventful that I gave up 63 minutes into the ordeal. I just simply couldn't expose myself to any more of the dull storytelling.

And yes, the movie does deal with a very stigmatic and taboo topic, one that definitely could have made for a more interesting movie, had the script and storyline been more wholeheartedly constructed and written.

Nana Komatsu (playing Akira Tachibana) and Yô Ôizumi (playing Masami Kondo) definitely carried the movie phenomenally well with their individual performances and there was just a very unlikely chemistry between the two on the screen. However, if they had a proper storyline and script to work with then the result of the movie would have been much better.

This movie was a bitter pill for me to swallow, especially since I wanted to like it, given the performances by the two lead performers. But there simply wasn't enough happening in the movie to keep me interested.

As such, I am forced to rate "After the Rain" a less than mediocre four out of ten stars. And I also have to say that I am not going to ever be returning to finish watching the rest of the movie.