Description:

Hatsukoi - one of the best coming of age films. Chosen as the 3rd Best Film at the 22nd Yokohama Film Festival.

Our story opens just after 17-year-old Sataka has gotten dumped by her boyfriend. When her mother is hospitalized with cancer, Sataka is left alone with her emotionally repressed father. Whiling away the hours one day, she finds a love letter written to another man by her mother 24 years earlier, deciding to track down the letter's recipient, Sataka eventually finds Shinichiro, an overweight slob who was abandoned by his wife years earlier.

Determined to clean him up and reintroduce him to her mother, Sataka nags Shinchiro until he finally agrees to her demands, and a gradual friendship develops as she drags him to the gym and a clothing store. But once Shinchiro's makeover is complete, he turns the tables on his young friend, and when the time comes for him to meet Sataka's mother, all concerned parties find themselves embarking on a new phase in their lives.

Director: Tetsuo Shinohara

Writer: Masahiko Nagasawa

Stars: Rena Tanaka, Mieko Harada, Hiroyuki Sanada

2000 - JAPANESE with OPTIONAL ENGLISH SUBTITLES - COLOR - 16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN - 113 MINUTES