((Unpopular Opinion))

I was really looking forward to watching this movie for a long time now and I ended up getting pretty disappointed after watching it.

The true story alone is amazing and inspiring but the director poorly executed it, in my opinion.

The first 40 mins or so were the worst. I didn't feel any chemistry between the leads and whatever few emotions they showed looked forced. After that, it got a little better, but it still wasn't good enough.

I was actually nervous about how Tao was going to act, but she turned out to be the one who acted the best. From the time she started falling ill onwards, she acted pretty well.
In my opinion, Sato Takeru was the worst (yeah yeah shocking lol) cause he looked mostly emotionless and lifeless throughout the movie and he had this weird fake looking smile on his face that was so out of place, especially during the first half of the movie. There were times he expressed his emotions properly but most of the time he wasn't good.

Plus, I didn't like the background music. It was as dull as Takeru's acting.

And I can't help but compare this movie to "The Vow", which is also a true story, with a slightly similar plot. In that movie, unlike this movie, the chemistry was to die for and Channing Tatum played his role very well.