Dear Friends (2007)

I watched this movie expecting a very good bonding session between two friends. However, it is the most depressing movie I have watched till date. From the starting to end, it is filled with the ultimate kind of tragedy. But the story and acting were both very good.

This movie touches upon very deep issues and the fact that it is based on real life events, it is even more touching. Both the girls in the story are suffering from illnesses and even then, they form true friendship and learn to care about each other. Most of all, it delivers the message about how important it is to have friends no matter in what state you are in life.

I only watched this movie out of curiosity and it didn't disappoint me apart from the fact that it leaves you so exhausted emotionally and mentally. I am well aware of the painful things cancer patients have to go through, but a particular scene after Rina's surgery was quite disturbing. In fact, this movie has a lot of painful and disturbing scenes. So, I would suggest that only if you can endure watching the harsh reality of sick people, then watch this film or skip it altogether.

The screenplay was beautiful and once again, here is a Japanese movie with doses of originality. Though terminal illness is a rather repetitive plot in movies, almost all other aspects of this film were original. The synopsis summarizes the best parts of the movie very well in one paragraph.

Anyway, because of so many reasons this movie cannot be rewatched by me and hence the overall low score.

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Perhaps this may be one of the most realistic movies about a young person in the prime of life facing a catastrophic illness. The acting is off the chart! It begins with a self centered, beautiful teenager who puts down everyone, guys, friends, parents. It's easy to dislike her, only there is someone that does not. There are a few scenes that hit it on the head of the nail. One of the most intense scenes I ever seen is the encounter with the boyfriend in the bedroom. This is a very realistic look at how illness changes a person and makes them fully human. Watch this when you want to watch something more profound than a light romance.

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OKAY, a full confessional here: when I acquired the 2007 movie DEAR FRIENDS, my MAIN purpose of checking out this flick was to see the ubiquitous Kitagawa Keiko (who has without doubt moved up to become one of my VERY FAVORITE actresses) duked out as a SEXY, SUPER-HOT VIXEN complete with the skimpy outfits and tight, tight shorty-shorts and the attitude to match! Sexily gyrating on the sweaty dance floor and leading on her choice of men, she’s the kind of girl who has friends casually ask, “Could it be you’re pregnant AGAIN?” and have her response be, “Can’t Be…I’m on the Pill, after all!” WHOA!

But if I thought this movie was gonna be all fun and games, I was SORELY MISINFORMED! ‘Cause though there WAS an awful lot of that in the first half of the movie, at one point, Dear Friends becomes quite somber and turns into a serious and introspective film. Where I thought I would be spending my time drooling and pandering after Keiko, I suddenly found myself weeping like a girlyman instead!

Keiko plays Rina, a sexy girl-about town who has the world of the nightlife in the palm of her hand. She is brash, spoiled and manipulating, but when she finds herself suddenly hospitalized, she is brought crashing back to earth, her partygoing life and thrillseeking friends taking a back seat as Rina is forced to see what really matters in life.

Stellar acting from all the lead actors, especially Keiko and actress Yuika Motokariya, who plays Maki, another sick girl who gives Rina the inner strength to go on with her life when fate has dealt her a bitter hand. Also of merit is the CUTE little girl Mao Sasaki who played Kanae, a tiny shut-in patient who befriends Rina during her initial stay at the hospital. Oh, and a holler out to Hatsume Matsushima who played Rina’s partygoing friend Emi who looked HELLA like Ueto Aya in those opening scenes!

This is my second movie in recent weeks dealing with hospitalization and cancer after seeing equally terrific HEAVEN’S DOOR, the movie that starred Nagase Tomoya as the cancer patient and Mayuko Fukuda as the shut-in hospitalized girl. Though the two movies couldn’t be any more different, they both had heart at its center and guaranteed that I’d be using up all my Kleenex as it took me through its emotional ups and downs!! Sob, Sob!

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I wasn’t prepared for the punch to the feels I would get with this movie! I was assuming this would be a sweet movie about a girl that learns what true friendship is, and in a way that’s exactly what I got, except it turned out to be much deeper. “Dear Friends” is a very heart wrenching movie. Keiko Kitagawa’s acting was just so impeccable that I was drawn in immediately. Although, this movie was much, much darker than I thought it was going to be I’m still glad that I watched it. True friends are there for you even when it’s inconvenient and true love is unconditional.

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