Closed Note
2007, 138 min.
Starring Takeuchi Yuko, Sawajiri Erika, and Iseya Yusuke.

A melodramatic story of a college student living vicariously through a notebook left behind by the former tenant of the apartment she lives in.

The movie begins rather slowly with seemingly no evident purpose to its production other than to follow the life of Horii Kae (played by Sawajiri Erika), a simple college girl who one day finds a diary left behind by the former tenant (Mano Ibuki, played by Takeuchi Yuko) of the apartment that she had just moved into.

For a while, it follows her daily routine of going to school (although this eventually gets written out of the story line as she seldom seems to go, and when she does, is apparently too tired to even stay awake in the lectures), then working at her part time job at a local pen specialty shop, reading the diary by the window, and talking to her friends at night about what happened that day.

The story eventually picks up as she meets an interesting character, Ryu Ishitobi (played by Iseya Yusuke), while at work. A story line about Yusuke and Kae start to develop concurrently with the story being read within the diary. While the first half of the movie has little to write about (which in itself may means something), the latter half picks up as we find that all three people are related in one way or another.

Mano is a junior elementary school teacher who writes in her diary about her struggles and successes in teaching her pupils. Parts of the movie were narrated by Mano, reminding me of several other movies starring Takeuchi Yuko (Tengoku no honya–Heaven’s Bookstore; and Ima, ai ni yukimasu–Be With You, come to mind) where her soft-spoken, somewhat monotonous toned voice, is what brings us emotionally closer to her character. I was almost convinced that these films were made to suit Takeuchi Yuko’s character; afterall, she is the star actress in this film, besides the now infamous Sawajiri Erika.

I can’t say that I liked this film a lot. But at the same time I can’t say that it wasn’t all that great. The intertwining character plots that span multiple timeframes is what keeps us on our feet throughout the latter half of the movie. Without this, it wouldn’t really be much of a movie other than it being eye candy for the generation x and baby-boomers alike.

I’d give it a 3/5 only because it picks up in the latter half and actually kept me from falling asleep, which the former half would have done if it weren’t for Takeuchi Yuko. See it if you want, but don’t go out of your way to do so.