Cinejapan 3: Rainbow Sky

Oftentimes it is the actions that we do not do that we regret, rather than the actions that we go and do. In the movie Niji no Megami (lit. Goddess’ Rainbow, English title = Rainbow Song) that very thing is explored – and through it we see a nice little movie carried by solid acting talent by some of Japan’s rising actors. At times conventional by standards of Japanese Drama it has some unconventional elements that make it an interesting film.

While most stories have a dramatic twist involving the maiming or death of one of the main characters near the end, this movie does it in reverse – it is presented in the beginning of the movie. Tomoya Kishida (an older and different looking Hayato Ichihara, All About Lily Chou-Chou) works as an assistant to a film/TV director. One day he sees a strange upside-down rainbow and sends a picture via cellphone to his old friend Aoi Sato (Juri Ueno, Swing Girls, Nodame Cantabile TV) who is in California at the time. Unfortunately, shortly afterwards Tomoya gets word that Aoi has died in a plane accident. As Tomoya grieves over her death, and as her family prepares for the funeral, we flash back to the time when Tomoya and Aoi were once college students, and the relationship they both had as friends.

The pacing of the story comes along smoothly, and is divided into several parts, each telling a separate yet connected story between the two of them. Also inserted within the narrative is a movie-within-a-movie, aptly titled The End of the World, starring both protagonists. The visuals of the movie are nothing much to talk about, but some do give a certain dreamy feel reminiscent of Shunji Iwai (not surprising since he was one of the producers.) The soundtrack is as expected of a Japanese Drama: simple and unassuming. The ending song is great too.

The structure of the film makes us consider the situation at hand, and lets us view the flashbacks knowing that this was the past, considering the tragedy that will unfold in the future. It makes the experience a little more bittersweet. This story structure has been used before in the adaptation of Crying Out Love in the Center of the World, but in a more subtle way.

Of course, the acting was superb from both leads. Up to this point I’d only seen Juri Ueno in happy comedic roles so it was a nice change to see her in something serious here. Yu Aoi (Honey and Clover, among others) as Aoi’s blind younger sister was great; she was also from All About Lily-Chou-Chou, and it was nice to see her and Hayato Ichihara together again (especially in the last scene, which brought back memories of the aforementioned film, while being a nice dramatic scene in itself.) I heard she won an award for her acting here.

As the ending credits rolled I couldn’t help but contemplate the film’s message of missed opportunities in life. So all you readers out there (all 3 of you, heh) seize the day and don’t be indecisive.