黄色い涙 Kīroi Namida

Title: 黄色い涙 Kīroi Namida
English Title: Yellow Tears
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2007
Cast:

• 二宮和也 Ninomiya Kazunari
• 相葉雅紀 Aiba Masaki
• 大野智 Ohno Satoshi
• 櫻井翔 Sakurai Shō
• 松本潤 Matsumoto Jun
• 香椎由宇 Kashī Yu

SYNOPSIS

嵐 Arashi - もどり雨 Modori Ame

Set in the 1960s, five group of friends go to Tokyo in order to pursue their dreams. Eisuke works as a manga artist, Shoichi wants to be a singer, Ryuzo plans to be a novelist, Kei aspires to be a painter, and Yuji makes deliveries for a living.

Shoichi, Ryuzo, and Kei live with Eisuke in his small dilapidated room, the four of them intent on completely focusing on their respective crafts for the summer.

REVIEW

嵐 Arashi - 涙の流れ星 Namida no Nagareboshi

In a nutshell, Kīroi Namida is a movie about friendships, following one's dreams, and finding the right balance between idealism and realism.

The main characters are enthusiastic about following their passion and intends to become successful in their respective crafts. It's such a realistic portrayal of people who find out what they want to do in life and are wholeheartedly invested into actually doing what they want to do.

However, things don't turn out well for the characters because there are just not enough opportunities for them to do their respective crafts. Although Shoichi, Ryuzo and Kei still insist on focusing on their dreams, Eisuke has decided to become realistic and find a decent job to pay for their living expenses.

Eventually, Shoichi, Ryuzo and Kei also face reality and become more practical. In the end, they seem to have all settled down and have their own careers. When you think about it, the movie was very realistic in presenting that people don't always get to realize their dreams. Some people are really lucky to do so but for most people, they have to contend with living ordinary lives.

I think it's also important that these group of people really tried to follow their dreams even for a short period of time. Knowing that they tried and things just didn't work out, they are not forever trapped with thinking 'what if...' and they are able to move forward properly.

I really like the slow pacing and the subdued scenery of the movie. It could stand for the slow pace of life in the 1960s before the bullet trains and the hectic lives of recent years. It could also be interpreted as reflecting the characters' slow, perhaps non-existent, progress in making their dreams come true.

I really like this movie because although it is realistic in its approach, it remains hopeful. I mean, life doesn't have to be meaningless just because people don't get to follow their dreams and instead have to do things they didn't intend to do in the first place. People move on and do the best they can under the circumstances and that's what life is ultimately about, anyway.

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黄色い涙 Kīroi Namida