Japanese Movie – Renai Shashin

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Alternative Title: Collage of our Life, Love Photograph, Picture of Love
Country: Japan, 2003
Director:Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Cast: Hirosue Ryoko, Ryuhei Matsuda, Eiko Koike
Type: Melodrama, Romance
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary: Satonaka Shizuru (Hirosue Ryoko) is an impulsive and energetic girl who lives her life to the fullest. Makoto Segawa (Ryuhei Matsuda) is a serious photographer. He first meets Shizuru when she asks him to take a photo of her punching a guy (?!). They start hanging out a lot and she eventually lives with him. At first, Segawa finds her idiocyncracies strange, but he gradually warms up to her and learns to relax. Shizuru takes up photography (becuase she wants to be a part of Segawa’s world). She turns out to be a better photographer than Segawa, so he makes her leave. She goes to the States to become a photographer and Segawa says that he’ll go and find her once he becomes a professional photographer. A few years pass and he receives an invitation from her saying that she’s going to have a photo exhibition and that he should go to American to attend. Once he goes there, Shizuru is nowhere to be found. Things just keep getting stranger and stranger until Segawa finds out the tragic truth (dun dun dunnn!). I can’t give it away, but you can probably figure it out if you’ve watched Tada Kimi.

Impression: This is an awesome movie that taught me a bit about the spirit of photography. It’s related to Tada Kimi wo Aishiteru. I think Tada Kimi is based on this story (the link to crunchyroll above explains the connections well). In comparing Tada Kimi and Renai Shashin, the cinematography of Tada Kimi is better, but I liked the plot fo Renai Shashin better. In both, the photography was outstanding. I found that in Tada Kimi, the photography was more naturey and serene, while in Renai Shashin, the photography was more vivid and urban. Both female roles were quirky, but I found in Tada Kimi, she was more introverted.

Tags: Dominic Marcus, Eiko Koike, Hirosue Ryoko, Ren Osugi, Ryuhei Matsuda