L♡DK: Two Loves Under One Roof

Taisuke Kawamura's 2019 Japanese film follows the arrangement by which Aoi and Shusei secretly live under one roof, broken when Shusei's cousin Reon arrives. The secret comes out and the three end up living together; from there the story becomes a triangle. The film is adapted from a manga and meets the expectations of its genre: brief misunderstandings, jealousy, reconciliation. Mone Kamishiraishi's performance stays natural inside the template. Its limit is that the characters' economic and family circumstances are never questioned; three secondary school students sharing a flat is not treated as a problem. The images are clean and the pace fast. Who it's for: viewers who like Japanese romantic films about young people and manga adaptations. Who it's not for: anyone wanting realism, or a story that steps outside the template.