100kai naku koto :: In which an otherwise depressing movie is caked with fairies and rainbows

100 kai naku koto, or ” To Cry a Hundred Times “, is not a groundbreaking movie of any kind. Its your standard romance book-to-movie adaptation with young actors. The pacing is slow, the acting is alright, and the story is simple.

But, that’s okay.

I came into this movie not expecting much. Ohkura Tadayoshi of Kanjani8 is not a great actor, he’s not even a good actor, and at times he’s just flat out terrible. But, in this movie, it didn’t require much for Ohkura Tadayoshi to assume the lead. The lead character was in every way Ohkura, as if the character was written with Ohkura in mind. A free spirited bike lover, his character falls madly in love with a girl he meets at a wedding in Hawaii (played by Kiritani Mirei). Kiritani is up there with Ohkura when it comes to acting prowess, but she manages to play a sick girl decently enough that I’m not rolling my eyes at the screen.

The movie isn’t demanding in the acting department to cause any distractions and the story is intriguing enough for you to understand and get into it… even if it becomes extremely predictable of what exactly the problem is once the movie approaches the climax. Kiritani and Ohkura have enough on-screen chemistry to sell their little lovey-dovey romance and it’s written in a way that isn’t so overly dramatic that you just want to roll your eyes or laugh (I am taken back to Matsumoto Jun’s incest flick and I just want to cry). It also remains pretty faithful to the original novel, even to the point of actual lines being pulled from the pages and onto the film.

Overall, if you like tragic romance flicks, then check it out. If you just wanna watch Ohkura be Ohkura for two hours with a terrible hair cut then hey, go for it.