i'm not sure i was aware of naoto takenaka being active as a director, but i always thought he nails that balance between big ol' doofus and earnestly dramatic character, and similar things could be said about this film. there's quite a lot of joy here despite the melancholy the premise seems to suggest; some inventive–and unexpected– sequences and utilization of music (though i was never a fan of the particular classical music motif that's used here, i don't know what it's called), and a small group of pleasant characters. tomoyo harada was a stunner in her late 20s and 30s, innit. random side note: the DVD comes with (japanese) subtitles but for some reason they only work during the last 5 or so minutes of the film.
