Ima, ai ni yukimasu (2004)

Also known as: Be with you /I am coming to see you now
Country: Japan
Format: movie
Genre: family, romance, life&death
Cast: Takeuchi Yuko, Nakamura Shido, Akashi Takei, Asari Yusuke, Hiraoka Yuta, Karen Miyama, Chihiro Otsuka, Ichikawa Mikako,
Synopsis: After death of beloved wife Mio, Takumi and 6 year old son Yuji are left alone. Takumi thinks that his weak heatlh made Mio unhappy and Yuji believes that his birth caused mother's impaired health. Mio had left a book to Yuji, where she leaves to "The Archive Star" but comes back in rainy season. A year after Mio's death on the start of rainy season Takumi and Yuji find a woman in the forest, who does not remember anything about her life, but looks exactly like Mio. She goes with Takumi and Yuji to home, she tries to re-live her memories with Takumi speaking about their love story. At the same time, Yuji finds the time capsule he had hid with Mio before her death. Rainy season is close to end, but the mysteries are still in the air.
Rating: 5/5
Firstly, it was one of the most beautiful love (family) stories I have seen. 

At first I didn't like Takumi at all, because of his "I'm weak~" character, but later as the story unfolded I fell in love with him. He was loving father and I think that it might have been a horrible shock to end his high school dream like it did. There is a saying "to bite more than one can chew", which is accurate with this movie and Takumi's character. He was useless in many things, but I loved that he actually had the courage and will to ask woman out. Takumi's role was played by Asari Yusuke and Nakamura Shido - they look so alike that at first I did not see a difference at all, because they both acted great and also the same way with same expressions.

It must be scary for a woman to wake up one moment and have a son and husband that she does not remember. Maybe it was a little bit weird that she accepted things so quickly, but at the same time she explains everything troughout the story. At the same time it would be great to feel everything for the first time again even though all this has happened before. She brings many turning points into the story and in the end they show her side of their love-story. I loooove when they do so, because every story has two sides (that does not mean that feelings are mutual). I liked Takeuchi Yuko in this role - she gave the  soft and cosy home-feeling to the movie and she was very feminine. Ah! It was interesting that Mio also showed a side that actually when you die, you want your lover to be happy, but the knowing he/she would love somebody else after you, is painful. It was different from other love-stories when people say "fall in love again, get married and get children after I am gone" (just remembered that American "A walk to remember" end with not falling for anyone anymore). The change between high school and university was enormous! Look what a big city may do to you! She turned from shy mouse to beautiful swan - know it is literally impossible, but she was not a ugly duckling.

Little Yuji was very matter-to-fact. He believed in Mio's comeback so much that it happened - never give up on your hopes, because sometimes wishes can be bigger than the reality and may still come true. Those things he is always hanging upside down are sunshine-dolls, which bring rain while being upside down. They do not express his views and thoughts much, but in the end he and his actions made me cry the most.
"Ima ai ni yukimasu" teaches that true love can over come from anything and you cannot turn the fate around (even though Mio thinks about it a lot). Fate has its own complicated routes in life, but true love will last for eternity. The soundtracks are amazing and technically great.  Theme song is "Hana" by Orange Range.
This is definitely must-watch movie, because it is interesting and heart-warming and I would not call it that much chick-flick (maybe a little). It is considered to be one of the best Japanese love-movies and for the side-fact Takeuchi Yuko and Nakamura Shido got married after meeting each other in this movie - well, they divorced pretty soon too - maybe the overwhelming affect of the movie went away.

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Country: USA/Japan
Genre: war, history
Format: movie
Cast: Watanabe Ken, Ninomiya Kazunari, Ihara Tsuyoshi, Kaze Ryo, Nakamura Shido, Watanabe Hiroshi, Bando Takumi, Matsuzaki Yuki, Yamaguchi Takashi, Ozaki Eijiro, Nae, Sakagami Nobumasa, Luke Eberl, Sonny Saito, Mark Moses
Synopsis: World War II, battle between USA and Japan on island called Iwo Jima. Japanese solders are sent to Iwo Jima to protect their country from USA invasion, but lack of military help from the headparty puts soldiers into the position, where returning home alive seems to be impossible. Saigo is young baker, who had almost everything taken away and wants to see his child and wife again. Gen. Kuribayashi has travelled in America and does not favor the traditional Japanese army policy and reglements, which makes him disrespected by many Lieutenants. There are men who believe in pacifism and men who rather die than surrender.  
Rating: 5/5
Clint Eastwood made this movie to be a companion to "Flags of our fathers", which shows USA version of the battle of Iwo Jima. "Letters from Iwo Jima" is made after original General Tadamichi

Kuribayashi's letters, which he sent to his family.
Gen. Kuribayashi believes that there is another way to live. He has different war methods, that are based on logic and strategy while others only think about theory and set regalement. I think that not listening to Gen. and lack of communication between troops made Japanese army very vulnerable. Watanabe Ken in this role was more than significant. He read all the original letters through to play the character as real as he could.

Saigo, played by Ninomiya Kazunari, represents all those soldiers, who had everything taken away and were forced to fight and die for their country. He is the most sarcastic person in the film, yet he tries to see the positive light hoping there is a way back to home. He writes letters to his wife, but most of them might never reach her because of the censorship.
There are many other characters. Like Lt. Nishi, former Olympic champion of horse riding, and Shimizu, former army police officer, who has a lot of heart, but at the same time there are Lt. Ito and Admiral Ohsugi, who find Kuribayashi's views wrong. Putting these kind of different human nature's onto one limited area makes it even more complicated to preserve one's dignity and common sense. 

"Letters from Iwo Jima" script was actually written in English and later translated into Japanese. The shootings were mostly made in Barstow and Bakersfield in California. The on-location shootings are only the skeleton crew scenes. Filming crew got only one day, after being given a special permission by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, to film on Iwo Jima. Want the reason? There are still more than 10 000 missing Japanese solders resting underneath the soil. 
About 3/4 of the movie I cried, so after first 30th minutes I started crying. I am 100% pacifist and I hate-hate-hate-hate wars. Just to think that millions die from wars, millions lose someone precious to them, millions lose their homes and nature takes tens and tens years to recover - I cannot stand it. It is just too much pain and many times for pointless reasons.
I think it is another movie, which you must see to understand history.