Opening Day: 8 April 2010

Synopsis:

17 year old high school student Rio (Nozomi Sasaki) is always the center of attention due to her beauty. Yet, Rio has never cared about anyone but herself due to her traumatic past. Her friends and boyfriends exist only so she can use them for her gains. Rio is only interested in money. Then one day she meets 35 year college professor Kouki (Shosuke Tanihara) and falls in love for the first time. Rio feels confused by her emotional change and expresses her love to Kouki honestly. Although Kouki becomes interested in Rio, there is a reason he can't pursue the relationship.

Movie Review:

My Rainy Days is basically a chronicle of a young lady's journey through the various stages of her life. Starting from the inital painful episode of her life and a chance encounter with the Professor, it branches out to an unexpected detour into a malicious lifestyle. With an angelic face, Rio started to manipulated and led a group of school girls into compensated dating (old and nerdy men paying young attractive women for their companionship and sex).

This movie had a very strong opening act in establishing Rio as a devious lady who happened to very charming and pretty. It makes one wonder how can such an attractive girl could be so loose and cunning. It also offered an insightful peek into the teenage sex industry that occurs in Japan.

Halfway through what a seemly irredeemable path, Rio had another unexpected chance encounter with Professor Kouki and her life (together with the direction of this movie) took a sudden drastic change. But life is never all that rosy and her journey for redemption was paved with backlash from her past manipulation, broken promises and unexpected circumstances with the Professor.

While the movie had a strong start, the second story arc seems to falter when Rio had a sudden change of heart. The effort to make her comeuppances in the second act were not in depth enough and it doesn't really build a strong case for her struggle to redeem herself. Instead the film chose to focus on the amusing antics between the young student and the professor's blossoming romance.

Let's put it this way. Nozomi Sasaki, a Japanese Gravure Idol is very photogenic. Every frame of her in this movie felt like it had been carefully planned and beautifully captured. There's hardly an ugly shot of her in this movie. It's likely that the film planned to make the male audience / fans infatuated with her and therefore root for her through the various patches of her life. In that way, it would require the fans to fill in the blanks of things left untouched/unexplored in the second act.

There's also another reason why the actress who had a small supporting role in Handsome Suit, took over the lion share of the screen time, relegating one of the main star of Handsome Suit, Shosuke Tanihara to a mere supporting act here. Shosuke Tanihara's role as the unsociable Professor is purposely withdrawn as his character is keeping a secret from his young love. Due to the situation at hand, he can't help but restrain his love and one could see it that way why this film is keeping Shosuke Tanihara's screentime limited and his performance emotionally restrained.

The Professor Kouki's woes also played up the fan's fantasy of falling in love with such a pretty lady when things in life seems to take a gloomy turn. It's highly unlikely that such romance would blossom but for fans, it just seems like a fantasy come true.

As what my friend had noted, My Rainy Days is undoubtedly a show reel for the photogenic Nozomi Sasaki. The enjoyment of this film would depend largely on whether you are a fan or had already been mesmerize by the cutesy beauty of Nozomi Sasaki. The story elements in the second half won't build a strong case for Rio's love for the Professor but if you like her and if you construct a fanboy fantasy over her in your mind, you will be totally sold on the unlikely romance between the hot school girl and the unsociable professor.

Movie Rating:

(Manipulation, redemption and the blinding power of love... told as in-depth as a Gravure Idol magazine material)

Review by Richard Lim Jr