It All Began When I Met You (2013)

Another film I watched on a plane. I picked it because of Hiroshi Tamaki and went ahead watching the film, I didn't read the summary of the film. It is a romantic film, doesn't really have comedy factors in it but quite moving too.

Yes, it is about six different stories set around Christmas, only two pairs of couple did actually met with each other but only as acquaintances. Imagine watching six stories in 110 minutes, so it is quite lacking in details for a few of the pairings. But I guess the film is quite watchable and passable since it involves the usual things in our life. Finding love, expressing love, enduring love, dying love, lost love and unrequited love all in one film. I found the long distance couple are the most exciting couple of all, their story lines was beautifully told to the extent that I got teary eyes watching them.

All of the casts did their job well done, I have no problem with their acting. The musics are mostly Christmas songs. I only noticed one non Christmas song. Though personally I will not going to rewatch this movie, the numerous plots made me want to focus only on the couple that I am interested in.

In short, the film is a good movie about love. If you have no problem with watching numerous stories in one film, you can give this movie a try.

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Heartwarming Movie

This is an old movie that I don't know why I haven't watch until now, even though one of the actors is Higashide Masahiro.

First of all, there are 6 short stories in this movie and what I like, some of the actors in a story meet or intersect with the actors of other stories. The main thing about this story is that everything has a setting in Tokyo Station. Among the six stories, there are 2 stories that I really like, namely 'A Half Coming-Of-Age Ceremony' and 'Christmas Eve Lover'.

I like 'A Half Coming-Of-Age Ceremony' because it is a family story, where the father has a secret and tries to tell his secret to his 10-year-old son. Many misunderstandings occur between them because the son does not know that his father has stopped working. The son also feels pressured by his father with many rules which he thinks are binding, while the father intends to prepare the child to become an adult, so he can leave peacefully. Everything is about communication between family members and how to deal with common problems. This theme is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

Then about 'Christmas Eve Lover'. I like this story because it is similar to the stories in the manga, where they seem to meet unintentionally, but there is someone who actually makes them accidentally meet. I like where they disliked each other at first, got into a misunderstanding that made Kazuki hate Reiko, but in the end liked each other.

Of course, because these six stories are put together in a 106-minute film, many details are not included in this story. Also, each story does not get the same portion of each other. For examples are Christmas Present and Christmas Courage. I especially want to know the continuation of Christmas Courage, whether Natsumi managed to express his feelings or not. But overall, this movie is quite heartwarming.

The songs I found in this movie :
1. Mamotte Agetai by JUJU
2. Mamotte Agetai by Yuzu

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