Taiyou no Uta (2006)

Country: Japan
Format: movie
Genre: life&death, romance
Cast: YUI, Tsukamoto Takashi, Asagi Kuniko, Kishitani Goro, Toyama Airi, Fuse Eri, 
Synopsis: Amane Kaoru is 16 year old girl who lives a different life from others - she sleeps on daytime and wakes up after the sun has gone down just to go out to play her guitar on streets. Actually she suffers from a rare disease called XP (xeroderma pigmentosum), which makes Sun her fatal enemy. At the same time there is a guy named Kouji who lives a care-free life, passing Kaoru's window at every dawn to go to surf. Despite having different lifestyles, the fate brings them together to give them time to change something in them.
Rating: 5/5
Belive me or not, but this movie did not make me cry and in some way it is not bad thing at all.

Kaoru is a really sweet girl who can be straightforward about her feelings, but also decent and hold back. YUI is a perfect choice for this role, because of her beautiful voice and cute appearance. I have always liked YUI's songs and they were enjoyable as a OST, but about acting - like usually singers should sing and actors act. She was not bad or anything, but just amateur. Of course, there were things that were a bit creepy - I mean, stalking a guy with a camera is not a thing that normal girls should do. I was impressed by Kaoru's strength to face her illness - she knew that her illness has no cure, but she decided to live the fullest as long as she can.

Kouji is a "baka"-guy. He is not talented nor smart, but he has a big heart and he does not think weird about people who give a sudden confession attack. I think he was actually flattered and amused by Kaoru's actions. I saw Tsukamoto Takashi in "Hungry" for the first time, but as he was a supporting actor, then he did not receive so much attention from me, but this time I was really looking at him and Gyoza! I need to see him more in dramas/movies (especially, because he has acted a lot).
I also enjoyed watching the parents, because they were the perfect example of how parents try to

make everything to protect their child, while blaming themselves for child's misfortune (I actually do not think that "misfortune is the right word in this context, but I do not find better words) . I do think that Kishitani Goro might have been the best actor in this movie for his role as father, because he was really great.
Now to the reason why it did not make me cry. It was very predictable - I knew everything that was going to happen, so things did not come as a surprise. More than that, the start was really slow. It took too much time showing the surrounding before getting into the real story, which made the story a little bit shallow and short. It is a bittersweet love story, that leaves the taste of sadness into you.