Oto-na-ri (2009)

Oto-na-ri: Directed by Naoto Kumazawa. With Jun’ichi Okada, Kumiko Asô, Mitsuki Tanimura, Yoshinori Okada. Nojima Satoshi (Junichi Okada) is a photographer who wants to photograph scenery, but currently works for a modeling agency where he takes picture of his best friend, a model in his 30, Shingo (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi). One day, Satoshi decides that he no longer wants to put up with what he doesn’t want to do, and sets out to go to Canada to shoot pictures of the Canadian scenery. Living next door is a woman, Nanao (Kumiko Aso), also approaching her 30, who is too busy with her work at a flower shop to consider dating. One day, a man working at a convenience store nearby stops by her flower shop and confesses his feelings for her. Satoshi and Nanao know about each other’s existence by the sounds their neighbor makes through the thin wall. Even though they do pay attention to the sounds next door, they actually have never met …

“Oto-na-ri is a somewhat unconventional romantic movie starring a JE actor who can actually act. Why the movie is unconventional, you actually need to watch it because I donu0026#39;t want to ruin the movie for you. For me, the color was a little dark, but that probably has to do with the whole sound-without-sight idea (again, if youu0026#39;re just reading this it might be confusing – the movie is about two neighbors who donu0026#39;t meet; they follow each otheru0026#39;s life through the sounds in the other apartment). Simple (definitely not mind-blowing by any measure), artistic, with good acting (though Okada is my favorite actor, I was more impressed by Asou0026#39;s acting in this particular instance), I would re-watch Oto-na-ri again and again. Itu0026#39;s very heart-warming, cute, yet not a conventional chick-flick. Not groundbreaking, but definitely not without merit. Recommended.”