By Ai Yoshida
The opening scene looks just like a photograph. Yutaka Higashi, played by Etsushi Toyokawa, sits alone looking out of a hospital window at the snow falling outside as it fills the screen. He is waiting for Yu Miri, played by Makiko Esumi, to give birth to her baby. Higashi looks like an abandoned child. A subtitle appears, saying: "To be aware each moment of the existence of another. To love is not to seek to convert longing into action, but to cherish the sense of love for itself." These words state the main theme of the fictional movie Life.
The movie Life is adapted from the series of "Life" novels, which are based on Yu's own experiences. After she published "Life" in 2000, she wrote three sequels called "Spirit," "Alive," and "Voice," all written within the last 2 years (See "The bonding of three lives" in Youth Forum News No. 33). Her novels have become best-sellers, and more than one million copies of the books have been sold. The movie Life includes all four books of the "Life" series and tells the story of Yu Miri's pregnancy and the death of Yutaka Higashi.
One could almost hear the loud beating of the actors' heart in the silence of the theater. This film clearly shows that the director and scriptwriter are enormously talented, and that they neither cling slavishly to nor change unnecessarily the original novels. The creators of the movie Life made the film to satisfy Yu's fans who have all read the original novels before seeing the movie. In the hospital obstetrics room in the gynecology ward, a warm atmosphere is created by the wallpaper which looks like the grain of wood. The wood grain represents life. But the cancer center, where Higashi is hospitalized, has a gloomy atmosphere based on cold colors to represent death. In addition to the sadness of his hospital room, the images which express the seasons and spaces which surround Higashi mean that he will die in a short time.
Etsushi Toyokawa and Makiko Esumi, who play the hero and heroine respectively, put great spirit into their performances. They express the images of life and death through more than just their words, as if they are baring their own souls. Toyokawa lost no less than 13 kilograms, and plays Higashi powerfully. He seems to become the real Yutaka Higashi rather than just acting as Higashi on the screen. There is a scene where Higashi hugs Yu's son while watching a father and his son playing happily, though this scene is not in the original novel. Higashi then cries in a low voice in the shade of a tree because he knows that he can not give any knowledge or help in raising Yu's child, as Higashi knows he is on his deathbed. That scene shows him brimming with uncontrolled frustration.
In the movie Life, Yu, her child and Higashi face life and death clearly for the first time. They also reveal the dignity of life through the facts of birth and death. They emphasize the transitory nature of life itselfーfrom the womb to the tomb. They also show clearly that people can accept anything if they live life with a purpose. The most important thing is not the age or background of a person, but how one lives one's life. This film will stir you to with the desire live because you have been given life so that you can not only express your love and thoughts, but also put everything you wish into action when you are supported by a strong belief.