SYNOPSISOrphan Yota is a hard-working 21-year-old who dreams of opening up his own restaurant. He has a little step-sister, Kaoru, who lives on an island off Okinawa but moves in with Yota to begin college on the mainland. Yota had promised their mother on her death bed to care for Kaoru at all cost _ even at the expense of his relationship with his beautiful medical student girlfriend.
Nada Sou Sou Movie Reviews Nada Sou Sou (Tears For You) is based on a popular Japanese ballad of the same name sung by Natsukawa Rimi.
Eight-year-old Yota gets a three-year-old step-sister, Kaoru, when her mother marries a musician who is based in Naha, Okinawa. However, the man soon leaves the family and Yota’s mother becomes terminally ill. At her death bed, Yota’s mother makes him promise that he will look after Kaoru and love him as if she is his own flesh and blood. After his mother’s death, Yota bring Kaoru to his grandmother’s place which is on a small island off the coast of Okinawa. After dropping out of high school, Yota (Satoshi Tsumabuki) leaves the island and heads to Naha to earn a living in order to support his sister. He manages to secure two jobs; a delivery-man by day and a restaurant helper by night.
When Kaoru (Masami Nagasawa) turns 16, she re-joins Yota when she secures a place in an Okinawan high school. Determined to see his sister through high school and college, Yota works doubly hard. He is also planning to open his own restaurant. Unfortunately, his investment is wiped out when Yota gets swindled by Mr Kameoka, a conman who sells him a plot of land. Saddled in debt, Yota’s relationship with his rich girlfriend, Keiko, is affected when her father offers to pay off his loan on the grounds that Yota breaks up with his daughter. Although Yota does not accept the money, he does not feel good about the relationship and decides to leave Keiko.
Three years have passed and Kaoru aces her high school studies and gets into a prestigious college. Over the years, the love between Kaoru and Yota grows stronger as one becomes more protective towards the other. Kaoru decides to leave on her own when she enters college as she feels that her feelings of love for Yota has grown out of hand. Unable to understand Kaoru, Yota allows her to leave.
Directed by Nobuhiro Do, Nada Sou Sou is set to be a tear-jerker but it falls slightly short because of Nagasawa’s cutesyness. Her high-pitched voice and Kaoru’s constant whining and yelling out “Nee Nee” (big brother) sometimes prove to be an anti-climax to otherwise moving scenes. It is also hard to initially believe Tsumabuki’s character because one is used to seeing him playing the fool in the 2001’s Waterboys and 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Thankfully, as the story goes on, Tsumabuki’s portrayal of Yota becomes grittier and it gets easier for us to emphatise with him.
Another highlight of Nada Sou Sou has to be its magnificent cinematography. With rustic Okinawa as the backdrop, one will definitely be charmed by its laidback nature. This definitely enhance the storyline as audience can relate to Yota’s struggle to get out of poverty. The haunting soundtrack also hikes up a tear factor to the two-hour movie.
