When two souls find one another, nothing can tear them apart. Widower Takumi (Shidou Nakamura) lives a quiet life with his six-year-old son Yuji (Akashi Takei) after the loss of wife and mother Mio (Yuko Takeuchi). Yuji unfailingly remembers her promise to him: "I'll be with you again in a year's time, when the rains come." On the first anniversary of her passing, Takumi and Yuji are taking a walk in the woods when they come across a woman sheltering from a monsoon downpour. She bears an uncanny resemblance to Mio, but has no recollection of who she is or what she is doing there. Family life resumes from where they left off, while Takumi and Mio's memories of their first encounter in high school come flooding back. However, their new life together is interrupted by the discovery of Mio's old diary, which reveals the secrets of her past and how they must say goodbye once more in six weeks time...
"'Good morning.' `Good night.' `This tastes good.' `Are you alright?' `Did you sleep well?' `Come here.' Love lives within these words. To me, that's what being a couple is all about. But back then, I hadn't realized it yet." The above passage is an excerpt from Takuji Ichikawa's best-selling novel "Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu," from which the film "Be with You" takes its inspiration. Sweetly melancholy and ultimately uplifting, this tender love story has been brought to the silver screen by the assured touch and insightful sensibility of noted television director Nobuhiro Doi in his feature film debut. Talented young stars Yuko Takeuchi ("Yomigaeri: Resurrection") and Shidou Nakamura ("Ping Pong") vividly portray two lovers reunited by a mysterious quirk of fate who tentatively rediscover each other and the miraculous circumstances that have brought them together. Infused into the film's simple structure, which glides fluently between memories and the present, is a poignant expression of the manifold nature of love. The gentle resonance of "Be with You" will no doubt strike an inspirational chord in the hearts of viewers everywhere.
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Review
A few years ago, Korean romances took over the market for the romance genre which had been held uncontested by Japan. While at least half a dozen made it big in the Pacific region, the most successful worldwide has to be My Sassy Girl (2001). The onslaught however soon ran out of steam, even for works by MSG's director Kwak Jae-young. His still widely acclaimed Classic (2003) had in fact faded somewhat, and not even bringing back Jun Ji-hyun from MSG could save Windstruck (2004). In the meantime, Japanese romances are making a come back. "Poetic" director Shunji Iwai brought a breath of fresh air with Hana and Alice (2004). It is Ima, ai ni yukimasu, however, that is the best romance coming out of Japan and Korea in the last ten years.
Unlike most traditional romances, Be With You offers up an intriguing, possibly supernatural premise - a deceased love returning from beyond the grave. It may sound like a pitch for a horror movie, but Nobuhiro Doi's masterfully told romance is anything but scary. A box office hit in Japan and elsewhere, Be With You is a rousing crowd pleaser, although not without its fair share of problems.
The film revolves around a widower named Takumi (Shido Nakamura) who lives in the country with his six-year-old son Yuji (Akashi Takei). The movie starts with a quaint little house nestled in the most idyllically beautiful, lush green countryside, where a shopkeeper of a cake shop delivers a birthday cake to a young man Yuji, who is making breakfast. We are then taken back to the time when Yuji is six, a year after he has lost his mother Mio through illness and is living a life of mutual support and love with his father Taku.
Both are mourning the loss of Mio (Yuko Takeuchi), beloved wife and mother. In the wake of her death, Takumi and Yuji have forged an odd, yet somehow functional relationship; they act almost as if they were abandoned children forced to take care of each other rather than actual father and son. And as if Mio's death wasn't enough, it seems Takumi suffers from a medical condition that affects his motor skills. As a result, Takumi must avoid crowds and live like a veritable recluse. Yuji is disappointed that Takumi can't do the things that most fathers can, but turns out to be amazingly understanding about his father's condition. Besides, Yuji has bigger things to prepare for - like his mother's possible return.
Strange as it may sound, Mio made a promise on her deathbed that she would return to Yuji and Takumi when the rainy season comes. Of course, Takumi is skeptical of his wife's promise, but refuses to put a damper on his son's excitement. It's clear that Takumi, too, hopes that her dying words come true.
When the rain starts, Taku and Yuji find in the woods a woman looking exactly like Mio, who has apparently lost her memory completely. The father and son naturally have no problem believing that it is Mio coming back from heaven, and bring her home. Although in a way she is still a stranger, she seems to accept that she is Mio, and asks Taku to tell her the story of how they first met and fell in love. Through that process, they fall in love a second time (assuming at this point that she is indeed Mio). As we share the joy of the family reunited as well as the love story of young Taku and Mio through the flash back, the six-week rainy season is mercilessly coming closer and closer to the end
Tentatively, their family life resumes, as Mio begins to adjust to her role as wife and mother, re-energizing the family dynamic in a way that brings happiness to all parties involved. In the meantime, Takumi tries to fill in the blanks for Mio about how they fell in love. Their back story is told from his perspective, as the film flashes back to their high school days. However, his version of events makes it clear that Takumi never became aware of Mio's true feelings at the time, a fact that will come into play later in the narrative.
But underlying all this happiness is the question of how long this reunion will last. It seems that while she was alive, Mio buried a time capsule, one that holds the key to her startling reappearance. Learning the truth of the situation, Mio realizes that her days are numbered and takes steps to ensure that Takumi and Yuji are well-taken care of (and are able to take care of themselves) when she finally departs this earthly plane. As the rainy season's end approaches, all three must prepare for her eventual, poignant departure.
All the time while watching the movie, alongside with emotionally becoming more and more identified with these three people whom I came to care for, I found a rational part of me that kept assessing how the story would go. Is it really Mio coming back from heaven to fulfil a promise? Is it a woman who happens to look like Mio but has a story of her own? Or is everything just the imagination of the father and son? The revelation came, not in the form of a super twist dropped like a like a bomb, but through the last twenty minutes' gentle unfolding of past events that provide answers not only to the mystery of Mio's appearance, but also to many things we have noticed throughout the movie that register subconsciously (only subconsciously) as questions. Even more important, we saw another layer about the entire story that deepens our understanding of and care for this family.
But all this would not mean a thing without the wonderful, wonderful performance of Yuko Takeuchi as Mio. Shido Nakamura and Akashi Takei as father and son complement her performance perfectly and, together with the beautiful photography and heart-warming music, make this film the best in it genre in the decade.
The English title of "Be with you" is not devised haphazardly, but has a meaning.
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