Yellow Tears (Kiiroi Namida) review

Yellow Tears, based on the Shinji Nagashima manga Wakamono-tachi, or “Youths” is the story of four friends who move to Tokyo in the spring of 1963 to spend the summer following through with their individual dreams. The friends are played by the pop band Arashi, who previously starred together in Pika☆nchi: Life is Hard Dakedo Happy in 2002 and its sequel Pika☆☆nchi Life is Hard Dakedo Happy in 2004. Although having Arashi star this film is probably its main draw and affords it the luxury of a built-in fanbase, it would be a mistake for non-fans to pass this one up thinking it’s some sort of contrived Arashi vehicle. Three of five group members are already established actors in their own right, and almost every supporting role is filled by an established or quickly-rising star. And if you are a fan, well I guess you get the best of both worlds.

In the spring of 1963 manga artist Eisuke Maraoka (Kazunari Ninomiya) and his sister Yasuko (Hanae Kan) need to rush their sick mother to Tokyo to get the medical treatment she needs. Unable to afford a staff of doctors to sign off on the emergency train transport he hires a group of friends to pose as doctors for him. The scheme works and after a brief get-together the four friends go their separate ways. It isn’t long before they all end up coming back though, apparently unsuccessful at living alone while pursuing artistic careers.

There’s Eisuke the manga artist, Ryuzo (Sho Sakurai) the novelist, Shoichi (Masaki Aiba) the singer/songwriter, and Kei (Satoshi Ono) the painter. Arashi member Jun Matsumoto also appears throughout the film as a delivery boy named Yuji who happens to be an enthusiastic fan of Shoichi’s music. They’re all bound and determined to maintain their artistic integrity and assume that if they just spend the summer focusing on their work they’ll all succeed financially and gain the freedom to do whatever they want in life.

It isn’t long before distractions start to crop up though, and they reluctantly sober up to the fact that they can’t afford to eat tempura bowls every day or expect many more free meals from Shoichi’s girlfriend Tokie (Yu Kashii). Much of their summer is spent scrambling to scrounge up enough money to buy food. And when things seem to be at their worst, with each of them gradually pawning off the instruments of their respective trades, they have the bright idea to use the last of their money to pre-pay rent for 8 weeks and live off rice donated by the eternally-eager ancillary character Yuji. Unfortunately romantic involvements, creative blocks, and other issues still seem to find a way to sabotage their ability to make a truly concerted run at success.

The atmosphere of this film, aided by good direction and nearly flawless cinematography (one would be hard-pressed to find a single questionable shot in the entire movie) takes center stage and is buoyed by quality acting and a catchy musical score. It’s important to note that this is a fairly sleepily-paced movie though. 1963 Tokyo is a whole lot different than current-day. With the Shinkansen (bullet train) coming in the next year, the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics on the horizon, and a general eagerness amongst the population to make Japan a world-class country Tokyo was about to evolve at an incredible pace - but none of it hadn’t happened yet. The movie mirrors the time in which it’s based so if you’re expecting a raucous comedy or tear-jerking drama Yellow Tears is certainly neither of those. What it is, however, is a snapshot of life in a simpler time and, ultimately, an affirmation that even though life may not always go how you expect things usually have a way of working out in the end. And that, while certainly not the most grandiose of themes, is a welcome one.

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