Rainbow Song
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From AsianMediaWiki
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User Rating
Current user rating: 92/100 (28 votes)
Profile
- Movie: Rainbow Song
- Romaji: Niji no megami
- Japanese: 虹の女神
- Director: Naoto Kumazawa
- Writer: Ami Sakurai
- Producer: Shunji Iwai
- Cinematographer: Masayuki Fujii, Shinichi Tsunoda
- Release Date: October 28, 2006 (Japan)
- Runtime: 118 min.
- Distributor: Toho
- Language: Japanese
- Country: Japan
Plot
In “Rainbow Song,” Kishia Tomoya (Hayato Ichihara) learns that his good friend, Sato Aoi (Juri Ueno), died in an airplane crash somewhere over California. He leaves work to visit Sato’s family and provide support in any way he can.
Rewind a few years earlier, Kishia and Sato first meet under strange circumstances. Kishia has a bad tendency of stalking girls after they break up with him. He just so happens to be stalking Sato’s friend at work. When Sato hears about her friend’s stalker she becomes all creeped out by him. Meanwhile, Kishia attempts to befriend Sato in order to get closer to his ex-girlfriend. With persistence, Kishia is able to make friends with Sato and, in the process, has Sato falling head over heals for him. Unfortunately, Kishia is totally oblivious to Sato’s true feelings.
Back to the present time and Kishia is in Sato’s room, reading a letter she wrote years back. It finally starts sinking in what Kishia Sato’s true feelings were and, perhaps, his true feelings for Sato come to the surface.
Cast
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| Hayato Ichihara | Juri Ueno | Yu Aoi | Kuranosuke Sasaki | Shoko Aida |
| Tomoya Kishida | Aoi Sato | Kana Sato | Shinsuke Higuchi | Chizuru Morikawa |
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| Wakana Sakai | Fumiyo Kohinata | Ami Suzuki | Hiroyuki Onoue | Kei Tanaka |
| Kyoko Asakura | Yasujiro Sato | Sayumi Kubo | Jiro Hattori | Gakuto Ogata |
Additional Cast Members:
- Tomohiro Kaku
- Magii
- Hidekazu Mashima
- Sakichi Sato
- Emi Suzuki
- Pierre Taki
- Reiko Tajima - Tomoe Sato
- Ryosei Tayama
- Machiko Washio
- Satoshi Yamanaka
- Akifumi Miura
- Kazuaki Hankai
- Lena Fujii - girl at cafe
- Tadashi Sakata
- Michiko Tomura
- Miho Ohashi
Trailer (Korean version)
Image Gallery
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darke angel Says:
Jan 15 2012 6:20 pm
Watched it last nite... Drew me to tears... It touches me. Thinking of those people who go through similar experiences.... Credits to Juri.. Love her composed and natural acting. Hahaha falls in love with her...
Rich Says:
Jan 08 2010 2:42 am
The movie was strong because it revealed Aoi’s death from the start. Afterwards, I struggled to watch her relationship develop with Kishida. As they grew closer, the looming death made the story increasingly sad, but in a good way. And that was all thanks to the strong performances by the actors. Also, the movie within the movie was a nice touch; Aoi’s character’s looming death and wish for love mirroring her own desires and eventually her own fate. These developments made the plot stronger than the usual jun'ai fare, like “Crying Out Love” and “Tenshi no Tamago,” which are similar but can’t hold a candle to Rainbow Song.
amit Says:
Jul 09 2009 2:44 am
apart from an obvious an needless detour,the story stayed true to its main characters..
a very nice watchable film,one that i immensely enjoyed..
p.s=juri ueno is awesome.
xan Says:
May 25 2009 2:45 am
I just loved the use of Gustav Holst's "The Planets" as part of the sound track. The wonderful Opus 32 ( Jupiter) allowed me to immerse myself in the film. Beautiful!
nalyah Says:
May 21 2009 2:47 am
"Rainbow Song" got my attention last year and I finally managed to see this movie. The plot reminds me about some other movies like "Sono toki wa kare ni yoroshiku" (Say Hello for Me) and a little bit of "Heavenly Forest".
I think it has been quite popular to have characters who are so lost in searching for their happiness and love that they fail to see that they have it all right in front of them (in the persons of their best friends). As usual in such situation one must lose somebody to realize it.
The characters are really sweet in their own special ways. However, the plot does not really leave the actors a lot of space to reveal and expand their potential.
HHND Says:
Jan 15 2009 2:43 am
I don't think this movie has much plot. Right from the beginning you know the main character died from an airplane crash ... I mean, it's not like in Heavenly Forest where the character realizes the love, and then at the end the girl dies, leaving you feeling sad or whatever ... Rainbow Song is much more than just a touching love story. It's well directed, particularly with the "movie within a movie". The story of the older woman who likes Kishida Tomoya (Hayato's character) further illustrates what kind of personality Kishida has. I also like the fact that even though blind, Aoi Yuu's character Kana can see the truth really well, whereas the two people who aren't blind can't.
Rainbow Song is not a movie with much plot, and that's not what it was trying to achieve - a thrilling plot.
Ki Says:
Dec 27 2008 12:03 pm
Going into “Rainbow Song” I had mixed feelings about the movie. On the one hand there’s the impressive cast of Juri Ueno, Yu Aoi, and Hayato Ichihara. There’s also a fellow named Shunji Iwai listed as the film’s producer. On the other hand the movie is a straight up pure love (jun’ai) flick, a genre that features a few brilliant films but a gazillion maddeningly dumb yawnfests. So with those two diametrically opposed forces appearing together, I did wonder which side would win out. Fortunately, “Rainbow Song” came out just fine.
Not since "Crying Out Love in the Center of the World" (Kou Shibaski and Masami Nagasawa), has there been two sisters as lovely as Juri Ueno and Yu Aoi. Speaking of "Crying Out Love", the setup of "Rainbow Song" has an eerily similar setup: start out in the present, go back in time to introduce main characters when they first meet, romance blooms, tragedy occurs, younger sister is introduced, jump back in time to the present, younger sister takes prominent role, while older sister is honored in memory. That in a nutshell describes both films to a tee. So what makes "Rainbow Song" something more than a generic retread of "Crying out Love..."? Well main reason would be J-U-R-I U-E-N-O. Once Juri Ueno appears in the film, the movie makes an amazing transformation from a run-of-the-mill jun'ai flick to something quite special. You do get the feeling of watching a rainbow appear after a summer shower. Definitely, Juri Ueno's best performance since "Swing Girls."
And that’s not to say the other performers in “Rainbow Song” were shabby in any way. Hayato Ichihara, as main character Kishia Tomoya, certainly exuded his own set of charms. Something as inane as the way he spoke (emphasizing certain syllables differently than others) made his character come to life. Yui Aoi, in her supporting role as the blind younger sister, was her usual charismatic self. While she sat on the bench and spoke with Kishia, her smile just glistened with this amazingly quiet exuberance that’s all Yu Aoi.
So yes, the performances were very good. Juri Ueno, in particular, gave the film the charisma needed to elevate it from mediocrity. The script itself was strictly standard fare for its genre, nothing special. But, don’t watch “Rainbow Song” hoping for the unexpected, rather watch the movie for the performances and the characters. You’ll likely find the movie to come alive because of this.
Mitchell Says:
Dec 27 2008 7:43 am
The poster you have for this Japanese movie is from the Korean release. You should use the original Japanese artwork, here's the link to the poster on wiki... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rainbow_song_poster.jpg
-Mitchell
Dan Dredger Says:
May 28 2008 2:50 am
I fell in love with Juri Ueno while watching this one last night. Her performance essentially carries the film (that’s no slight to other elements in the film).
Yu Aoi’s always been a charming, engaging performer, but Juri Ueno steals the show.
Great little movie.