Viewed on DVD. Cinematography/lighting = six (6) stars; subtitles/translations = five (5) stars; DVD video format = two (2) stars. Director Ryosuke Hashiguchi's radical upending of the typical Shoahimin Eiga (home drama) movie genre is refreshing and hilarious as his satire (Hashiguchi wrote the scenario) goes after just about all the stale components of standard Shoahimin Eiga (especially those repeatedly exploited by so-called "classical" Japanese movie makers in the past). Hashiguchi's film is also touching as he explores the many road blocks encountered in contemporary society by a lonely gay couple wishing to start a family (child adoption is not an option). Added to the mix is a female protagonist who for medical (related to multiple abortions) and psychological (plain loneliness) reasons is seeking to start a family with a man who "looks like a father." In a chance encounter, she feels that one of the gays has this look! The director is highlighting the partially hidden ongoing cultural clash between heretofore standard family formation, structure, and values (at least as conjured up in movies) and the reality of modern times: one gay's mother is pushing hard for a traditional marriage process and family structure; the other gay's older brother (but not his wife) seems open to new types of family structures (at least on the surface); and then there is the emerging two-dads-one-mom family model depicted in this photo play. Hashiguchi penchant for long, single takes (a good five minutes or so in duration without a cut) channels Hitchcock's usual methodology. But unlike Hitchcock, Hashiguchi's long scenes often end up becoming tedious and ultimately boring. Acting is okay. Subtitles can not be turned off, and tend to be a bit long given their rapid flash rates. Not all dialog is translated. The video formatting used for this DVD seems to be targeting old-style "square" TV screens. It looks pretty bizarre on modern monitors. Rather than expanding the image to full video screen size (at least horizontally), thick black bars surround a miniaturized version of a semi-wide screen. The black borders take up about 50 percent of the video screen's real estate! (Just sit closer!) Concluding scenes seem to be lining things up for a sequel which has yet to emerge. Recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

I've seen this film a few times. THere are some really sweet scenes between the two main characters, and showing how they know each other well. After I saw it the first time I was surprised when I realised how little physical intimacy there was throughout, but there is intimacy in smaller ways - such as sharing the umbrella, the ice cream part, the walking with the bicycle and the rice ball with the background music.Yes, this is one of the more innocent films by this director, yet still having some horrible/crappy parts, as is his fashion - such as the lady who is stalked, and the guy who leaves at the beginning.Given the subject matter - homosexual and surrogacy - I also think it was quite cutting edge for it's time, and shows Japan's willingness to embrace social change, whilst still outlining the attitudes of the older generations.

I've watched this movie several times but last night I watched it again and I just have to say something about it. This is not your normal gay movie with a lot of gratuitous sex scenes, nor is this a gay movie about AIDS, nor does the plot have anything to do with someone being sick. This is a story about how two fine looking young Japanese men meet up, have a relationship and start a life together. The families of these two men are screwed up, like too many are in life, but these two keep on going. Then just to make it even more interesting, two women come into the middle of these two men's lives. One becomes like a third partner (she wants a baby from them) and the other has a typical young girl infatuation. What really caught my attention was how both these guys do things together at home and outside the home. They care about each other, know each other, and do spontaneous things together. I think we could all learn about relationships from watching these two guys interact together. Love the story.

There's something off about this movie. I kept wondering if perhaps it was just badly translated. It wasn't that I didn't know what was going on from one moment to the next, but there seemed to be many strange sudden transitions and characters would suddenly seem to be familiar with one another when I'd had the impression they'd never met before. It gave the narrative a jerky, confused feel.I only made it through about a third of this before I got bored and gave up. It wasn't awful, but it was never absorbing, I wasn't feeling remotely connected to the characters and there just didn't seem to really be much going on, although at the time it stopped it looked like the movie was just deciding it might need to have some sort of plot after all. But that was too little too late.