Thursday, December 15, 2016

Your Lie in April

DIRECTOR: TAKEHIKO SHINJO;  LEAD CAST: KENTO YAMAZAKI, SUZU HIROSE, ANNA ISHII, TAISHI NAKAGAWA;  SCREENWRITER: YUKARI TATSUI  (ORIGINAL STORY BY NAOSHI ARAKAWA);  MUSIC: MASARU YAKAYAMA; PRODUCER: JUICHI EUHARA, KASUMI YAO;   GENRE: TEEN ROMANCE, MUSIC, MANGA COMIC STORY;  CINEMATOGRAPHER:  MITSURU KOMIYAMA;  DISTRIBUTOR: TOHO;  LANGUAGE: JAPANESE (WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES) LOCATION:  JAPAN;  RUNNING TIME:   122 minutes
Technical assessment: 3.5
Moral assessment: 3
CINEMA rating: V14
Since his mother’s death when he was a young boy, piano prodigy Kousei Arima (Kento Yamazaki) has refused to play the piano.  Blaming himself for the death of his mother’s who was his mercilessly strict piano teacher, he is consumed with guilt, and claims he has lost his ability to hear his playing in spite of his otherwise perfect sense of hearing.  He continues school, maintaining his friendship with childhood friends Tsubaki (Anna Ishii) and Watari (Taishi Nakagawa), but daily retires to his monochromatic, monotonous world, far removed from his glorious past when he was known as a “human metronome” for his exceptional piano playing skills.  One day when the cherry blossoms are in peak bloom, Kaori Miyazono (Suzu Hirose) enters Kousei’s life.  Kaori is a free spirit, and it shows in her verve in playing the violin.  She is entering a violin competition, and wants Kousei to accompany her on the piano.
Known in Japan as “Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso”, Your Lie in April is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoshi Arakawa, and has had an anime television series adaptation.  As a full length feature film, it can stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the better teen romance films of recent memory, with cinematography that enhances the beauty of the setting without overpowering the plot.  Fresh faces, simple, straightforward dialogue, and seemingly unstudied performances add to the credibility of the story while preventing it from descending into melodrama.  Outstanding are the recitals that focus on the pianist and the violinist.  All throughout the concerts the viewer cannot but believe that the actors themselves are actually playing their instruments onstage, otherwise there is the film editor to thank for the seamless job.

--> Your Lie in April is saying something about obsessive parents who demand perfection and superhuman performance from very young children.  Kousei’s mother may have had his best interest in mind, but circumstances may not always be kind, thus the trauma and psychological imbalance the boy goes through as a result of his mother’s misguided discipline threaten the very future of the child.  But there is hope, the movie shows, and the boy’s recovery also stems from his very trauma—just as certain as spring follows winter.  No spoilers coming; suffice it to say that Kaori the violinist has a secret—she lied in springtime, in April when the landscape is pink with cherry blossoms, a lie that is to be uncovered when the dying blossoms are falling to the ground.