My Beautiful Man: The Movie (2023)

Una delle cose che ho sempre detto su questa serie e che continuerò a dire all’infinito è che my beautiful man deve essere compresa per vederne la vera bellezza.
Entrambi i personaggi, soprattutto Hira, devono essere compresi e visti oggettivamente senza farci distrarre da opinioni personali perchè vi giuro che se avessi visto il personaggio di Hira facendo riferimento a opinioni personali, l’avrei odiato e chiamato pazzo e assurdo.
Il suo personaggio sì è pazzo a modo suo, ma se lo guardassi con una certa soggettività lo troverei pazzo da ospedale psichiatrico dato il suo modo di vedere tutto e di comportarsi, solo nel momento in cui lo si vede così com’è e lo si cerca di comprendere ti rendi conto di chi sia veramente. Il suo modo di fare, dire e pensare è un modo decisamente poco comune, tanto da essere considerato assurdo e ossessivo ma a modo suo di base c’è un sentimento veramente forte e riservato. Amo il modo in cui tutto ciò che riguarda il suo amato è qualcosa di riservato tra loro e un sentimento così forte che non esiste nessuna altra persona al mondo che può fargli cambiare idea. Hira a modo suo ha una concezione di amore molto forte, una concezione che dovrebbe essere presa ad esempio almeno alla base, non condivido pienamente il modo in cui pensa e vede tutto ma di base l’amore che ha per Kyoi è un amore puro e forte. Un amore che ad oggi è raro, al giorno d’oggi pare che vada di moda l’amore occasionale o senza sentimenti e il tradimento, tutto ciò mi fa perdere speranza nell’essere umano. Così come nel mito dell’androgino, dovremmo cercare la nostra metà e amarla con tutti noi stessi, senza giochi o tradimenti, ma dovrebbe essere una ricerca disperata che poi si trasformerà in una felicità assoluta; dopo aver trovato la nostra metà dovremmo essere onesti e fedeli, dovremmo avere fiducia e trasmetterla, non scherzare con gli altri per il solo bisogno di compagnia.
In un certo senso penso di trovare una grande similitudine tra come vive l’amore Hira e l’amore spiegato da Platone: “Quando una persona vede un bel corpo o un volto dalle fattezze "divine", dapprima sente un brivido, poi, guardandolo, lo venera al pari di un dio e arriverebbe a offrirgli sacrifici come a un'immagine sacra.” (preso dal libro di filosofia).
Quando recentemente ho studiato la visione dell’amore di Platone, ho letto questa parte e ho subito pensato a Hira (in realtà prima ho pensato a una mia amica che tratta la sua crush peggio di un dio, poi mi è venuto in mente My Liberation Notes ma giusto per il fatto del “venerare” e infine ho pensato si adattasse perfettamente a Hira). E sinceramente dopo aver letto di questo delirio amoroso penso di aver compreso ancora meglio Hira.
Inutile dire che sin dalla prima stagione ho sempre pensato che questa serie fosse bella ma, a differenza degli altri, non l’ho mai sentita a me speciale o comunque pensarla come una serie da 5 stelle. Penso che questo sia dovuto molto da un fatto personale: la serie in sè è bella ma poco avvicinabile alla “realtà, normalità” (messo tra virgolette perchè non sono nessuno per definire cosa debba essere normale e cosa no), il modo di guardare all’altro è decisamente ossessivo, tanto che avvolte mi sembra esagerato, e in generale sono una persona che quando ama da tutta se stessa ma non a questo livello, trovo tutto il fatto del pensare all’altro come un dio un’assurdità, sì l’amore e l’essere fedeli sono importantissimi ma ciò non implica che debba venerare la persona che amo, secondo me ci sono modi e modi di amare ma questo mi pare il più assurdo, ovviamente da un punto di vista estremamente personale legato al mio modo di fare le cose.
Quindi per vari motivi non sono mai riuscita ad avvicinarmi completamente a questa serie e considerarla come una delle più belle. Sì è bella ma non stupenda ripensando anche ai mille problemi di comunicazione e di comprensione di loro stessi e dell’altro.
In tutto ciò dico che in generale mi sono sentita di apprezzare maggiormente questo film che le due stagioni, sicuramente sono maturati secondo certi aspetti e io in primis ho avuto modo di comprenderli di più.

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HiraKiyo Eternal !!!

For disclaimers, I am not a fluent Japanese speaker, but simply someone who understands a level of Japanese to understand the context and translate contents sometimes, so I might have gotten some details slightly wrong. I fell in love with Season 1 first after it aired, and went on to listen to the drama CDs.

The movie essentially focuses on 3 conflicts. One, HiraKiyo has to go apartment hunting after Naho and Tomoya prepare to move back to the house the couple is currently staying in. Two, Hira prepares to graduate from university and enter the adult world. He's chasing after Kiyoi who seems to be walking a step ahead by starting work earlier, and loses his confidence to shoot Kiyoi beautifully after seeing Noguchi's work. Third, Anna and Kiriya's story, which Kiyoi finds himself tied up in. This movie overall, focuses on Hira's growth as a character.

HiraKiyo does feel more like a couple who has dated for a while here, compared to Season 2, from their domestic acts to ways of showing affection. HiraKiyo has learnt from their past in the previous two drama series and have grown a lot in terms of intimacy. Kiyoi is a lot more direct with his affection and doesn't hide behind his tsundere ways, and Hira takes a bit more initiative this time. Hira does still idolise Kiyoi by calling him a "king" and himself a "fan", but the "God" nickname and treatment (in the extreme end at least) has stopped. I do think that compared to the drama seasons, there's nothing people will be able to call "toxic" and in a sense, I think they are turning into a more "normal" couple (or as normal as they can be with HiraKiyo lol) like what Kiyoi wants without Hira's extreme worship and Kiyoi's tsundere manners.

Noguchi was definitely the MVP here. He's the only one apart from Kiyoi who really understands Hira, so he's the only one to truly get through Hira's brain and see through what Hira is trying to deny. It's because of him that Hira can grow as a character. I think most of the important scenes with him were kept so everyone can also feel how important he is when they watch the movie. Also just a note for the Koyama fans who didn't read the original work, he only has two relatively quick scenes.

I absolutely loved how the soundtracks and flashbacks to Season 1 and 2 were used throughout. They're both effective in bringing nostalgia to fans of the drama series, as well as to provide context for those who only watched the movie. The soundtracks, paired with the beautiful cinematography, gives you goosebumps no matter what scene it is. Bitter was also unexpectedly used in the climatic scene, which I think was really smart of the crew, considering how well the lyrics and Hira's emotions there paired together. My favourite soundtrack of the movie would be "Time to Forget Myself" (恍惚の時間), as it's used in a particularly gorgeous and touching scene (both in terms of the movie and behind the camera since Riku is the one holding the camera there) with little words.

Considering how the movie was 103mins long, I think they managed to include all the important scenes from Nikurashii Kare, rearrange the scenes and make everything flow well. Having known the novel plot, I do think there were some scenes I would have liked to see in the movie or preferred the novel version, but watching the movie as it is was amazing nonetheless. I'm also glad they scrapped certain parts from the novel and rewrote it. Something I want to point out though, is that I feel fans of the original work should probably try to judge the movie as a separate entity rather than compare it to the original novel.

The side characters (notably Anna and Shitara) and Kiyoi's own more minor storyline (since the main focus in the book for Hira's) as an actor were definitely more developed in the novel, but having their scenes cut didn't really make anything feel like it was 'lacking' while watching, at least to me. Such scenes would perhaps have added more depth, but I do think, after all, there's only so much you can squeeze into less than 2 hours of a film, compared to a whole novel. So, I would think it's more important to focus on HiraKiyo as a relationship during that limited duration.

In terms of acting, I've always thought Riku and Yusei were impressive as actors but they genuinely outdid themselves here. Their chemistry has always been amazing, for if you know these two outside of Utsukushii Kare at all, you'll know they're extremely close friends as well. Both of their facial expressions just screams HiraKiyo's love for each other while somehow still showing its subtle complexities. Their range of emotions, with Riku showing Hira's devotion, insecurities, possessiveness, etc and Yusei showing Kiyoi's "ore-sama" side, adoration, hurt, etc, is just insane. There have been multiple directors going to watch the movie, so I do hope they take a liking on RikuYuse's chemistry and acting skills, and somehow pair them up again in a vastly different show. I would love to see them co-star again, as the two have also mentioned wanting as well.

Of course, the supporting actors were amazing too. I especially wanted to point out Nimura Sawa and Ochiai Motoki's facial expressions and the way they delivered their lines. I can't point out which scenes in particular made me feel this in particular without giving out major spoilers, but they were absolutely great. The entire casting was perfect. I wouldn't be able to imagine anyone else in the current roles they're playing.

The movie, like what I believe many Utsukare fans feel for Season 1 and Season 2, is very rewatchable. Heck, if a fan can go to the cinema and watch the movie 53 times within 2 weeks of the movie showing, I don't see how it's not rewatchable. The staff put in so much thought into each design, be it regarding the set, costume or story (e.g. https://bit.ly/3qMBLeT), and the actors outdid themselves in playing their characters as well as they did. There's just so many little details to catch, from both the background in each scene, to the acting and story.

My bit of criticism though (even though it didn't really affect my experience with the movie), is that I wish that they could have shown how they resolved the conflict better. To me, it just felt like after the incident with Shitara, everything was just resolved? I didn't expect the Hira's confidence issue to necessarily be fixed, since that is who he is, but it did feel like a spur of the moment thing, both when he promised to stay by Kiyoi's side because of the impact of the incident on HiraKiyo, and when he took Kiyoi's pictures. I guess they could have talked it out after Hira returned home like they had planned to before Shitara happened, but it's never shown so it's kind of left as a '?' for me. I don't really remember whether the self-confidence part was in the novel, so this could either be me criticising the novel and the movie adapting it as it is, or the movie itself.

Still, it's also because of this that I want to see more from Utsukare. The movie ending was good, but there's still slightly more content I want to see, notably Kiyoi releasing a photobook with Hira's name on it beside his as his photographer, and Kiyoi's growth as an actor. I don't really expect a new drama series season (despite how welcome that would be) nor having Nayamashii Kare adapted as well (which would be especially hard to adapt knowing the main plot), but a drama special would be nice...

What I can conclude though is, if you love HiraKiyo solely because they are HiraKiyo, you'd absolutely love the movie. Or even if you don't know HiraKiyo at all, this will be a lovely story to witness of two people who are so different, but somehow love and understand each other better than anyone else and will always return to each other.

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