HONEY AND CLOVER

Director: Masahiro Takada

Stars: Sho Sakurai, Yu Aoi, Yusuke Iseya, Ryo Kase, Megumi Seki

Year: 2006

Rating: N/A

(in Japanese w/English subtitles)

Honey and Clover, based on a simple premise (following the lives of five close friends as they deal with life and love at the same art school), is anything but simple in execution; based on a very popular manga and animated series in Japan, I've read/seen neither, so can only base my review on the film itself ... which I loved.

Sho Sakurai, of the insanely popular Japanese boy band Arashi, opens the film as Takemoto - a young, fairly naive and quiet art student who works part-time wearing the Disneyland-like costume of a famous anime character in Japan, standing outside a store to draw customers. Sakurai breathes full life and breath into Takemoto from the first few moments of the film as a romantic dreamer who wears his heart on his sleeves and his emotions in his gaze ... never more so than when he spots the niece of one of his teachers, Hagumi (Yu Aoi), for the first time after she's come to the school to study. You can almost see Takemoto fall in love with her on sight, just watching him; it's very touching, and forms the backbone for the film right off.

At the same time, the art school's star pupil, Morita (Yusuke Iseya), has come back to finish school after leaving for awhile to work and travel. Morita's somewhat of a celebrity at the art school, seen as a brilliant and eccentric painter/sculptor known as much for his off-the-wall personality as his is for his off-the-wall artwork. Takemoto is his dorm neighbor, and after seeing the state of his room Morita decides to stay with Takemoto for awhile instead ... a situation further complicated when Morita first meets Hagumi, and finds himself attracted to her as well - leaving Takemoto, who already feels like Morita's everything he could never be, feeling that much more inadequate.

Meanwhile, Ayumi (Megumi Seki) is a ceramics student with a deep crush on her close friend Mayama (Ryo Kase) - who, in turn, sees her sort of as "one of the guys" and instead is going through his own obsessive crush on his female boss at work - a crush that provides some good comic relief in the film, as Mayama often envisions himself being grilled by the cops for his stalking.

If all this sounds like a soap opera, or a bad episode of some Asian "Dawson's Creek" - it's not. And much of that is due to the refreshing cast of young actors who really infuse their characters with heart and soul. The film is about each of them finding his or her own path in the world - individually, but together as friends as well, and the viewer soon becomes absorbed with wanting each of these people to succeed; to remain friends, grow, and find their way.

From the wonderful musical score to the lush cinematography that is makes the screen bloom with life and color - beautifully in keeping with the art school setting - Honey and Clover is a tender, funny and moving portrait of the friendship, love and the insecurities that make up life when you're in your twenties. It's a warm blanket of a movie that makes me only anxious to track down the series now, to get to know the characters in more depth. Really wonderful. **** - Reel Awesome