Hatsukoi
Hatsukoi (初恋 | First Love, 2006)
Director: Hanawa Yukinari
I am not sure what to make of this film… I definitely love the cinematography; I love Koide Keisuke’s performance as Kishi, but somehow… I am not sure if Miyazaki Aoi’s performance failed me this time around.
Hatsukoi is the movie version of the alleged autobiography of an author named Nakahara Misuzu, and her involvement in the 300-million yen affair. If you’re going to ask me, I think that including the “confession” of her involvement is just a backdrop to the whole film, since I was drawn more to the tension between Misuzu (Miyazaki) and Kishi (Koide). I was more interested with Misuzu’s inner conflict, that the supposedly main scene in the film felt like sprinkles on top of the cupcake.
And for my favorite part of the film:
May 6, 1966
Today, I met a young girl. With unclouded eyes, she looked at me and said,
“I don’t want to be an adult.”
I fell in love with her. The kind of love you feel only once. But I can never tell her about it. I couldn’t bear to cloud those eyes.
I guess the only problem here is that Miyazaki’s character doesn’t like to talk that much, which was a bit of a problem for me, since everyone else was… well, talking. I cannot seem to put “silence” on the film, since it was, after all, in the 60s. But looking at it on a different angle, I think Misuzu is a breath of fresh air among the rest of the older characters on the bar, so that’s probably one reason why Miyazaki’s character has limited lines on the movie.
I was surprised to learn that the actor who performed Misuzu’s brother is actually Miyazaki Masaru, Miyazaki Aoi’s brother.
Angela Solis grew up in the Philippines before moving in to Canada in 2003. She became a Canadian in 2006. Angela is 22 years old and an alumna of University of Manitoba with a degree in Psychology. She has been blogging since 2002. She maintains a 