[Confession] Your Lie in April
When you thought life was unfair and unforgiving, there will always be that someone who comes in, surprises you and changes the way you think of life. Your Lie in April values the wonders of love, of pain and of heartbreak that comes along with wanting to be happy and move on from the past.
Based on the award-winning and best-selling manga series of Naoshi Arakawa‘s “Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso“, the live-action movie “Your Lie in April” (四月は君の嘘) debuts last December 7 in several cinemas in the Philippines nationwide. I had the chance to watch it on the first day (but was late at reviewing it hehe) and was glad to meet Kento Yamazaki (Kosei Arima) as the male lead character again. He never fails to let out the fangirl in me. Hihi
Here's the synopsis of the movie:
A piano prodigy who lost his ability to play after suffering a traumatic event in his childhood is forced back into the spotlight by an eccentric girl with a secret of her own.
I would like to have a prior warning that I've never seen the anime/manga in full (meaning I've seen few episodes but that's it). So my take on this review is rather on the movie side and the story arcs that were encapsulated in it. So the reason I watched this was because of Kento and because some of my friends were fans of the anime - so I didn't hesitate giving it a shot.
When I was at the cinema, the first thing I was happy about was the fact that it centers classical music - and I love classical music. The story, even though focuses on characters, were able to portray the passion for playing classical. They gave the music a time of its own to harmonize and be one with the character playing it. So I really appreciated that. Another thing I praise is Kento because he did a great job fitting the nerdy character on him (unlike the bad boy prince tss) so yeah, he has his own style of being weak and loser-like and I commend him for that. I also specifically like it when the notes disappear in the music sheet! I also like the last part as it gives off the lie we've all want to hear.
Now let's go to the cons. The story was too shallow for me. I'd like to site that the theme may have been strong and powerful but the execution (or maybe the picked story arcs) wasn't that moving and original to bawl my eyes out. Yes, I was sad but I' wasn't crying. I asked my friend, who watched the anime and loved it, if she really cried at the anime and she said yes. So I thought maybe the movie didn't do a proper job picking the story thoroughly to support the heartache these characters had to deal with. Another thing were the characters: other than the story, the characters were the weakest ones. Watari holds the key in Arima-Kaori meeting, but after that he didn't have an impact anymore like a dead weight. Tsubaki was a bit better, but not by much. The only ones who were truly important were the two main characters but other than them, hm.
The most important thing that makes me frown is the supposedly realness of the movie. It's a common sense to anyone that you shouldn't adapt anything unrealistic from the anime to live actions unless you're going for fantasy. There's a limit to things that can be acceptable that shouldn't be stretched. A good example is the bridge jumping they did in the movie: I saw that in the anime and it looked fun - I saw it in the movie and I was terrified for their life! So yeah, you should pass on the things that were better seen in anime world than in real life. Not to mention the dark and empty hospitals when Kaori was crying on the floor. I thought for a second that maybe she was in an abandoned hospital and this movie was actually a horror movie. So I gave Your Lie in April the benefit of the doubt. I'm glad I didn't watch the anime because I would've been sulking deeper than I am now.
At times like these, it makes me think that sometimes, no matter how popular the manga/anime is, it should just stay as it is - you know, to not ruin the fun?
My Rating:
Plot: 7.0/10
Acting: 8.5/10
Cinematography: 6.0/10
Characters: 6.5/10
Uniqueness: 6.3/10
OVERALL RATING: 6.8