PRODUCTION NOTES

Throwing themselves heart and soul into a painfully maddening love!
A film adaptation by director Isao Yukisada of the acclaimed manga by Setona Mizushiro that won the hearts of many women!
Isao Yukisada has been tapped to direct the movie adaptation of a masterpiece comic (“The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese” / “Frog on a chopping block leaps twice” ) by Setona Mizushiro, who has won a legion of adoring female fans for a transcendent story about modern sexuality and the psychology that drives true love with all its associated pain and joy.

The protagonist in the story, Kyoichi Otomo, is played by Tadayoshi Ohkura, following his performance in Crying 100 Times: Every Raindrop Falls (’13). Kyoichi has always gone out with “women who adore him” and so has only known a passive form of love. But one day, he meets a former junior classmate, Wataru Imagase, a male, after seven years, who confesses that he has had a crush on him for years. Taken aback, Kyoichi tries to shake off a relentless Imagase until he eventually finds himself in the throes of a heart-wrenching romance for the first time.

While Imagase is plagued by his conscience that he shouldn’t fall for Kyoichi, it is hard not to sympathize with his honest desire to follow his heart. Imagase is played by Ryo Narita, a serious actor who made headlines with the movies, Just Only Love (’19) and Talking the Pictures (’19).

Picking up the megaphone is two-time International Federation of Film Critics award winner at the Berlin International Film Festival, and a giant of Japanese cinema, Isao Yukisada. With his evocative expressiveness and sure-footed directing, Yukisada continues his exploration of modes of love from Narratage (’17) and River’s Edge (’18) to this work that boldly and, at times, subtly depicts the tender and quixotic nature of love between two men.