Kazunori was a loner who alienated his children and his second wife after the death of his first; however, he has maintained a good reputation thanks to the company he built from the ground up which earned him the title of the “God of Management.” The only person who still visits Kazunori at the nursing home is college student, Asuka Yamane, which is the reason why one late Autumn day Kazunori decided to share multiple life stories and regrets and was reminded of one of Asuka’s wishes.
The pair worked together to pray which allowed Asuka to get her wish as long as Kazunori had his wish first of being transferred to 20 years prior and becoming the star goalie for his college’s football team. In that particular day he was training with his team, unfortunately for them, Asuka was his older brother’s bully and she was taking part in college football as well. Kazunori was for some reason not so angry for things he shouldn’t, this time Asuka became his family. As time passed, Kazunori was destined to repeat history but now, he refuses to make such mistakes anew.
In a multifaceted story woven around Kazunori’s past, Hiroshi Akabane strives to showcase his versatile skills while seamlessly performing other tasks parallelly. His first step involves him picking up acting and talking us through how the film industry functions. All Akabane does is diversify the perspective of the multi-pronged axis and the film rolls into place. Throughout the progression of Kazunori’s life, it is stated firm that if someone has the passion and talent to achieve things, then they will invariably flourish. But even in these circumstances, it is hard to change, and if correctly picked up, will the movie industry roll forward.
The image that I am seeing can be associated with global dynamics and its correlation to international relations politics and parenting. The image oozes a sense of realism that highlights many issues that parents and growing children around the globe face. Each character displays a level of intricate detailing which ultimately serves the grand narrative in a broad and holistic manner.
This builds levity to an otherwise complex environment that paints the sheer chaos and absurdity of social manipulation. This grasps the concept of performance completely, having kids pretending to be something they aren’t and acting some out the way that pleases their parents. When observing what’s happening meticulously, while the overall theme is terrifying, the intricate details serve as an eye candy which adds another layer.
Koichi Kimura’s cinematography, much like his Korean counterparts, appears to have rigged everything as it is overly bright and artificial particularly the way a scene such as that with a wish is shot. With regard to a motion picture’s theater however, the approach is better but does become a little irritating with time which submerges the movie in cheapness in parts alongside the music further exacerbating the issue. When concerning the picture, Touch Japanese Composer also delivered stunning results with his further completed the sense of the movie perfectly.
The criticism however remains as, perhaps the saving grace was Akio Kimura’s cinematography which remained up to the mark with the editing. The sewing techniques layering Arai used alongside the merging of flashbacks helped in placing the movie at a certain stand point that enabled the audience to better picture the events from a given perspective.
“Before the Sunset” as a whole, while crammed with many interesting and intelligent techniques manages to remain a bit cliché at one point while also at times coming across as a z cheesy, yet ultimately it emerges as an entertaining movie.
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