The Girl in the Sun

Kosuke works at an advertising firm and, at a meeting he attends for work, runs into Mao, whom he knew in middle school. Back then Mao was called stupid and constantly mocked; now she is a confident woman everyone likes. The two pick up where they left off, fall in love and decide to marry. But there is something Mao has not told Kosuke. Takahiro Miki's film uses a familiar shape from Japanese romance: memory, a first love and a secret that is not explained. The telling leans on ordinary time spent together rather than on big reversals. Jun Matsumoto and Juri Ueno play the couple. The tone stays sweet and light while, towards the end, you are made to feel that something else is sitting underneath it.