Gift (Japanese Movie)

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Movie: Gift
Romaji: Gift
Japanese: Gift
Director: Taro Miyaoka
Writer: Yukari Nakamura
Producer: Chizu Asai, Taisuke Murata, Genichi Taniguchi, Yuji Tojo
Cinematographer: Daiki Sunada
Release Date: June 12, 2014
Runtime: 91 min.
Genre: Drama / Road
Production Company: Media Mix Japan
Distributor: Media Mix Japan
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki Staff ©

Zenzo Shinozaki (Kenichi Endo) made a fortune in his lifetime working as a company president. Due to his bad temper, he has been isolated from people. Saori Yamane (Rena Matsui) works as a hostess at a bar. In her past, she killed her mother to protect her younger sibling. Zenzo Shinozaki then proposes to pay Saori 100 million yen for 100 hours of her time. Their lonely trip begins.

Cast



Kenichi Endo	Rena Matsui
Zenzo Shinozaki	Saori Yamane

Additional Cast Members:

Hayato Kakizawa - Ichiro Chiba
Takanari Ishii - Takahiro Yamane
Arata Saeki - Hiroshi Ikehata
Yuko Nishimaru - Ikuyo Ikehata
Masaru Mizuno - restaurant clerk
Atsuko Anami - Naoko Toda
Saya Kawamura

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ace Jan 06 2015 5:51 pm This might be too long a post...

While this movie was fairly predictable, it was also quite an interesting road trip. I had no clue who Rena Matsui was before watching this but teaming the rookie actress with talented veteran, Kenichi Endo, was a brilliant move. They seem to work well with each other.

A correction* Contrary to the movie's description, Saori Yamane did not kill her mother. Although she certainly should have, to be perfectly honest. In the end the mother's death was on the mother's head. No matter how others saw it.

Rena Matsui did a pretty good job as the young girl who had a really hard life. Although she did seem a little too soft to have lived the life she did. She didn't seem to sell the hard edge you'd get living that life for real. But matters little as she certainly made up for it with technique and energy in the other scenes. She made some scenes seem very, very real. This was a really solid effort by a relative newcomer. *Other Actors Take note: This is how you drive a car in film.

And Kenichi Endo as Zenzo Shinozaki. Hell, what can I say. This guy has done it all. This was not a hard role for him as it seemed made to order. But he really delivered some of the script's lines in a way that caught me off guard. So he still surprises me. Cool.

What struck me most about this movie was the really realistic tone and dialogue. The script was full of awful things but I never felt it was there just to manipulate me. It felt more like a world-weary explanation. The two leads delivered it near perfectly.

If I have a flaw it is that the antagonist was about as threatening as a limp noodle. But I suppose that is ok as he really is only a plot device and not a real character.

All-in-all, I recommend it. It has a leisurely pace that might not be for everyone. But for those with patience, the sad ride with this sad, unlikely couple will be a Gift. See what I did there?

jon May 05 2014 7:52 pm yippeee, just watched the trailer and rena really fit with this role, aarggh can't wait and definitely looking forward to this movie !

Gift (Japanese Movie)

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