Recommended: Still Walking

From the same director as the TV series Going My Home, and the TV series bears many similarities with it's older cinematic sibling. There's Abe Hiroshi and YOU in both, they have the same dreamy style of directing, the same soundtrack of tunes idly picked on an acoustic guitar, and both have barely any storyline at all.

The film is about a day in which a family gather together on the anniversary of the death of a son. Abe Hiroshi plays Ryota, the brother of the deceased, and has to deal with the constant subtext of never being as good as his brother. Meanwhile Natsukawa Yui plays a widower who is marrying Ryota, acutely aware that she and her son will never really be accepted by her husband's parents. Most of the film is concerned with everyday family life, with revelations and emotions only rarely being seen.

The director, Koreeda Hirokazu, certainly has a vision, and you can't criticise him for sticking to it. His films often have a timeless quality, and this film (and Going My Home) are all about making the mundane into something magical.

Just watched: I Wish (Kiseki)

Because Japan has such an apparently small pool of actors there will, on occasion, be times when you watch something that brings together a whole group of actors that you'd recently seen in others things. This film has Abe Hiroshi, Natsukawa Yui, Nagasawa Masami and Odagiri Joe in it, all of who I've been writing about in the past month or so.

This film from 2011 tells the story of two brothers, living in different towns with their separated parents, and their friends. Each of the seven children has something to wish for, and when one of them mentions that if you make a wish at the point where two bullet trains pass, then it'll come true. So they arrange to skip school and go to a town in the middle of nowhere just to make their wishes.

The cast of children are good, and are ably supported by the experienced cast of supporting actors. Special mention goes to Otsuka Nene, the mother of the two brothers who packs a lot of emotion and understanding into her few scenes. The film is also very nicely shot. The director, Hirokazu Koreeda, has a filmography that's well worth exploring, including Air Doll, After Life among others.

It's a heart-warming story, and even if it does rely on a very convenient plot device once they get to the town, it's still a nice tale, nicely told.

Currently watching: Muri na Renai

Wow, now I've got some work again, I'm reminded that having a job that involves working with just one spreadsheet really sucks the life out of you. Plus, there's an unreliable commute there and back. On the plus side, I can now empathise with the plight of salarymen in J-dramas a lot more than I could before.

Having said that, there are no salarymen in this series from 2008. The story is that a young-at-heart (but old-in-truth) music executive starts thinking about a serious relationship. Meanwhile, a part-time waitress/actress faces a dilemma with her useless but adorable boyfriend. By coincidence (and it wouldn't be a romantic comedy without them) the music exec becomes friends with both of them, and he falls in love with her, but gives advice to him, and then worries about it afterwards.

I'm three episodes in, and it's good but not great. Natsukawa Yui is great as the female lead role, and Sakai Masaaki (the lead actor in Monkey, who I wrote about recently) is fine as the juvenile sixty year old man. However, if the dialogue is nicely written, the story itself creaks and groans with chance meetings and unlikely coincidences.

Perhaps I'm being over-critical. It is, after all, the first romantic comedy I've seen since watching Kekkon Dekinai Otoko so it has a lot to live up to. Judged against any other romance that involves people thinking it may all be too late, it's pretty good. Certainly, the "August/November" romance of an elderly man and a middle aged woman is a different twist to the usual type.

So if you watch this show after almost any other series, then you'll be impressed. If you see it after Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi or Kekkon Dekinai Otoko, it might not seem so great. But I realise I'm being unfair, and I'll see this one out to the end with pleasure.

Recommended: Kekkon Dekinai Otoko

This series is in serious danger of collapsing under the weight of it's own reputation. A reputation that I am now adding to. I'd heard good things about this so often that it almost discouraged me from watching it at all. In the end, I decided I had to sit down and give it a chance.

The story involves a successful architect in his 40s (played by Abe Hiroshi) who isn't married and shows no sign of getting married soon. He lives what many people might see as the perfect life: successful career and a nice home with enough money and freedom to do what he likes when he likes. It seems that in this ideal existence there's no need or want of a wife.

However, during the twelve episodes, we see him have to deal with three potential relationships. With his boss, his new next-door neighbour and his doctor. And of these, the main storyline concerns the doctor, played to perfection by Natsukawa Yui, my new favourite lady.

It's an enjoyable series, and the character of the architect Kuwano-san is very nicely observed and acted. The scenes when he gleefully spends an evening playing the Game Of Life or builds a model boat by himself reminded me of those days when I've spent hours in a geeky self-centred activity that no one else would take much interest in. In fact, this blog might be considered in the same way by quite a few of my friends.

The storylines of each episode are well-written and believable right up until the end. The interplay between everyone is fun, especially in those scenes with Abe Hiroshi and Natsukawa Yui. They're great together and I note with delight that they've been in several films together. I shall have to track those down too.

Even the minor characters, like the girl at the convenience store, the guy at the DVD place and the waitress are nicely portrayed. So in conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this show which is a cut above the usual "quick, get married before it's too late" style comedies.