- Movie: Be with You
- Romaji: Ima, ai ni yukimasu
- Japanese: いま、会いにゆきます
- Director: Nobuhiro Doi
- Writer: Takuji Ichikawa, Yoshikazu Okada
- Producer: Hideyuki Honma
- Cinematographer Takahide Shibanushi
- Release Date: October 30, 2004
- Runtime: 119 min
- Language: Japanese
- Country: Japan
- Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Plot:
When two souls find one anoter , nothing can tear them apart. Widower Takumi (Shidou Nakamura) lives a quiet life with his six-year-old son Yuji (Akashi Takei) after the loss of wife and mother Mio (Yuko Takeuchi). Yuji unfailingly remembers her promise to him: “I’ll be with you again in a year’s time, when the rains come.” On the first anniversary of her passing, Takumi and Yuji are taking a walk in the woods when they come across a woman sheltering from a monsoon downpour. She bears an uncanny resemblance to Mio, but has no recollection of who she is or what she is doing there. Family life resumes from where they left off, while Takumi and Mio’s memories of their first encounter in high school come flooding back. However, their new life together is interrupted by the discovery of Mio’s old diary, which reveals the secrets of her past and how they must say goodbye once more in six weeks time…
Cast:
- Yuko Takeuchi … Mio
- Shido Nakamura … Takumi
- Akashi Takei … Yuji
- Karen Miyama … Aya (Yuji’s classmate)
- Yosuke Asari … Takumi (high school days)
- Yuta Hiraoka … Yuji (18 years old)
- Chihiro Otsuka … Mio (high school days)
- Mikako Ichikawa … Midori Nagase (Takumi’s co-worker)
- Katsuo Nakamura … Takumi’s Boss
- You … Yuji’s Teacher
- Suzuki Matsuo … Owner of Cake Shop
- Fumiyo Kohinata … Dr. Noguchi
- Tokimasa Tanabe
- Kei Tanaka
Author’s note:
“It’s the best movie in my life”
This movie became the first step of my journey of Japanese movies watch. I was a movie maniac back there, also an anime fan, but I have not ever think that I will be addicted to Japanese movies.
One day, me and my friend was planning to stay overnight at another one friend’s home. We prepared everything, such as snack, new video games, other stuffs, and movies . On-the-spot, we was playing video games and chatting during the day, but in the night we decided to watch some movies. While I’m playing my friend’s PSP, one of them play the first movie. “Water Boys” (J-Movie, 2001) was on the screen. I was not looking forward to it, therefore I continued to play PSP. I take a peek while the game is loading, then I realized that the movie is very funny, then I ‘throw’ the PSP and join them to watch. Laugh out very loud after, then my friend offer another movie he brings. He told me that the genre is drama, and uh, it makes me quite pessimist how the story could be. Because it’s already late, we decided to watch it in the morning.
Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu (Be With You) is playing. I stare to the screen and try to concentrate. As the time passes by, the screen blackened; the end. I still stared at the screen. I couldn’t believe what I’ve already watch, it’s so beautiful. I keep imagining the movie the whole day, and I told it to my friend. Surprisingly, he said that he did the same too when he firstly watch the movie. Time passes swiftly, it’s time for me to go home. Another surprise, the condition inside my house was totally remembered me about the movie. It makes me really couldn’t forget the movie.
This experience made me curious about Japanese movies, so I started to collect them.
This movie is based from a novel by Takuji Ichikawa. I haven’t read it yet but some said that it’s greater than the movie. I couldn’t imagine, just watching the movie already made me addicted.
I’m not a quite good reviewer, but here’s one quotation:
“A cinematic masterpiece. The best ever, 3 October 2005
Author: cyberpogo from Australia
I do not consider myself to be in the target market for this kind of movie (male, late 20’s). However, I bought this movie off an online site due to some reader recommendations. After finishing the movie, I was obsessed!!! I couldn’t stop thinking about it and couldn’t stop raving about it.
The acting and the direction is great, although a bit cheesy at times, but it works well. Yuko Takeuchi is such a beautiful actress. What I mean by beautiful is not her physical appearance (although she is pretty), but by the way she conveys her emotions and makes the viewer believe that she really is Mio. Everyone else does their role perfectly too, and the soundtrack really does a great job, especially the overture towards the end of the movie.
Overall, anyone who has a pulse will enjoy this movie. Personally it affected me a lot and it has turned me into a Japanese movie fan. You will struggle to find a negative review about this movie anywhere, and I really encourage all the males to watch it especially so they can get in touch with their emotional side (haha…). I’ve seen it seven times within two months and it still affects me each time I watch it. Some of my friends thinks I’m crazy but they don’t understand the relationship I have with these characters (hahaha…I can’t believe I’m typing this..my friends will laugh at me). Undoubtedly in my books, the best movie ever, and a moment to cherish with loved ones, or even by yourself (so the guys can cry and not feel embarrassed that anyone is looking at them).“ (IMDb.com)
Is this called love? 