Emotional

I watched the Japanese movie Tapestry because it featured two actors I really like: Masaki Suda, who is brilliant no matter what role he plays, and Nana Komatsu, whose subtle skills and luminous presence put her in a class of her own. I don't often enjoy Japanese dramas, but for once I was pleasantly surprised. This is a lovely film about a romance that spans eighteen years.

Masaki plays Ren Takahashi, who by literally an accident meets Aoi Sonoda (played by Komatsu) during a fireworks show. Both are 13 years old and have grand ambitions for their lives, but instantly fall for each other. Aoi comes from a very troubled home, however, and ends up abruptly moving. After learning she's being regularly beaten by her mother's lover, Ren runs away with her for a night, after which the police find and separate them. Their lives continue on different paths but they meet again at mutual friends' wedding at age 21. Although it's obvious that they still have feelings for each other, they separate again, and don't meet until the present, when they're 31.

Tapestry packs a lot of very realistic living into 130 minutes while illustrating the three eras in Ren and Aoi's lives. Although there's always a sense of something's gone wrong in the characters' situations, they do an admirable job of carrying on with life under the worst circumstances. By the time they're reunited at age 31 I thought "And now one of them dies" because, you know, Japanese drama. I'll just say that this is when the pleasant surprise happened.

This movie does briefly depict child abuse, and although I thought it was done well, it may be triggering for some. Highly recommend it otherwise. Available on Viki.com.