Our take
Asako is in love with Baku—deeply and almost delusionally, in a way that can only manifest in young love. But when the freewheeling Baku ghosts Asako for good, she moves from Osaka all the way to Tokyo to start a new life. Years later, she’s startled to meet Baku’s doppelganger in Ryohei, an office man whose solid dependability and lack of artfulness, while endearing, could not place him any further from Baku. Confused and lonely, Asako tiptoes around her feelings for Ryohei and, in the process, raises thought-provoking questions about the meaning, ethics, and true purpose of love.
What it won
Cannes
1 nom
The story
Asako lives in Osaka. She falls in love with Baku, a free-spirit. One day, Baku suddenly disappears. Two years later, Asako now lives in Tokyo and meets Ryohei. He looks just like Baku, but has a completely different personality.
Elsewhere
"Brilliant melodramatic flourishes adorn the blank center of this passionate fable, directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi."
— Richard Brody
"'The one that got away' is by no means a new or novel dramatic lynchpin, but rarely has the theme been used to such a beguiling, mysterious effect."
— Michael Leader
Evil Does Not Exist
Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Days of Being Wild
Kar-Wai Wong & Wong Kar-wai
Devdas
Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Il Mare
Hyun-seung Lee & Lee Hyeon-seung
Laurence Anyways
Xavier Dolan
Rouge
Stanley Kwan & Stanley Kwan Kam-Pang
Falcon Lake
Charlotte Le Bon
Comrades, Almost a Love Story
Peter Chan & Peter Chan Ho-Sun
Who picked it
Renee Cuisia is the lead curator at A Good Movie to Watch. In her spare time, she likes to watch K-dramas and analyze them to death. She's also seen You've Got Mail one too many times but is still convinced it's one of the greatest films out there.
