Ai no Kotodama (Words of Devotion)
By all accounts, Ai no Kotodama is one of the great Japanese BL dramas, and a benchmark for everything that followed it. So of course, I had to watch it.
Summary: Otani and Tachibana have been in a loving relationship for four years since graduating from high school, and live together happily although discreetly. A former high school friend, Yuki, suddenly appears again in their life, and unwittingly destabilises the boys' relationship. Otani knows that she and Tachibana were very close in high school and feels himself becoming jealous of their renewed closeness. At the same time he feels oddly drawn to Yuki himself. Feeling overwhelmed and threatened, Otani lashes out at Tachibana and inadvertently risks publicising his sexuality. Will his insecurity, distrust and jealousy destroy his relationship with Tachibana?
I love how this movie starts way beyond the point where most BL dramas end - with the guys in a well-established couple. It just demonstrates that you can create a fantastic BL drama without resorting to the cliches of a tremulous hearts-a-flutter high school romance. (Although having said that, can someone please make a prequel to this movie ASAP, where Otani and Tachibana are still in high school and not yet lovers? Imagine that! Gold! You can send me the royalty cheques in the mail.)
The chemistry between the two leads is a real pleasure to watch. They are totally credible as a long-term couple very much in love and who still have great fun together, but who are perhaps getting complacent. I love how complementary their personalities are, keeping each other in check - Tachibana is outgoing, cheeky and affectionate, Otani taciturn, gruff and passionate. When Otani stares darkly across a room at Yuki, Tachibana pulls him up in mock-horror with the words "Why are you wearing that scary face?"
The storyline is simple and straightforward and doesn't take long to gather force, but there's a lot going on underneath the action and plenty of unspoken dread and confusion on all sides. There's an unfortunate heavily-laboured metaphor involving a perfume, but it's a rare misstep in a film that best succeeds when it lets its audience interpret what's going on. By the time all the characters face up to their feelings and speak honestly with each other, we're fully invested in them working things out. There's a sweet scene involving fireworks that's meant to be celebratory, but it's equally bittersweet and sad because we know what it will mean for at least one of the characters. Demonstrating this balancing act of fighting for love but also having to deal with its less loveable side effects of distrust, rejection, jealousy and insecurity is the film's greatest success. It gives us and the characters a greater appreciation of what it means to be a mature adult, walking confidently into the future as a better person. Whether we walk onwards next to the one we love is entirely up to us.
Now if only all BL dramas could achieve that!
Rating: 13 out of 20
Ending: Sublimely happy
Summary: Otani and Tachibana have been in a loving relationship for four years since graduating from high school, and live together happily although discreetly. A former high school friend, Yuki, suddenly appears again in their life, and unwittingly destabilises the boys' relationship. Otani knows that she and Tachibana were very close in high school and feels himself becoming jealous of their renewed closeness. At the same time he feels oddly drawn to Yuki himself. Feeling overwhelmed and threatened, Otani lashes out at Tachibana and inadvertently risks publicising his sexuality. Will his insecurity, distrust and jealousy destroy his relationship with Tachibana?
I love how this movie starts way beyond the point where most BL dramas end - with the guys in a well-established couple. It just demonstrates that you can create a fantastic BL drama without resorting to the cliches of a tremulous hearts-a-flutter high school romance. (Although having said that, can someone please make a prequel to this movie ASAP, where Otani and Tachibana are still in high school and not yet lovers? Imagine that! Gold! You can send me the royalty cheques in the mail.)
The chemistry between the two leads is a real pleasure to watch. They are totally credible as a long-term couple very much in love and who still have great fun together, but who are perhaps getting complacent. I love how complementary their personalities are, keeping each other in check - Tachibana is outgoing, cheeky and affectionate, Otani taciturn, gruff and passionate. When Otani stares darkly across a room at Yuki, Tachibana pulls him up in mock-horror with the words "Why are you wearing that scary face?"
The storyline is simple and straightforward and doesn't take long to gather force, but there's a lot going on underneath the action and plenty of unspoken dread and confusion on all sides. There's an unfortunate heavily-laboured metaphor involving a perfume, but it's a rare misstep in a film that best succeeds when it lets its audience interpret what's going on. By the time all the characters face up to their feelings and speak honestly with each other, we're fully invested in them working things out. There's a sweet scene involving fireworks that's meant to be celebratory, but it's equally bittersweet and sad because we know what it will mean for at least one of the characters. Demonstrating this balancing act of fighting for love but also having to deal with its less loveable side effects of distrust, rejection, jealousy and insecurity is the film's greatest success. It gives us and the characters a greater appreciation of what it means to be a mature adult, walking confidently into the future as a better person. Whether we walk onwards next to the one we love is entirely up to us.
Now if only all BL dramas could achieve that!
Rating: 13 out of 20
Ending: Sublimely happy
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