''Gomen'' is a 2002 Japanese film by

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

Shin Togashi is a Japanese film director. Career Born in Fujishima, Yamagata (now part of the city of Tsuruoka, Yamagata, Tsuruoka), Togashi attended Rikkyō University, where he was inspired by the lectures on cinema by the critic Shigehiko Hasumi. After g ...

. It is a

coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

about the confusion of first

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

set in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It was the debut feature for many of the child actors, including the leads

Masahiro Hisano Masahiro is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese councillor (''Rōjū'') *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese artist *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese ...

(Sei) and

Yukika Sakuratani Yukika (written: 來可 or 雪香) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese scholar and the founder of the Association for Aid and Relief *, Japanese actress, singer, model and voice actress {{given nam ...

(Nao), and the second film by director Togashi.

Plot synopsis

Twelve-year-old Sei has hit puberty and is quickly becoming sexually aware, sometimes not as privately as he'd like; erections in school and other inopportune times plague him. He talks about it with his school friends, Kinta and Nyanko, in between their feuding over the affections of classmate Yumi, but can't figure out what to do about it. On a day trip to Kyoto to visit his grandparents, Sei has a chance meeting with Nao, a strong-willed, dream-like girl, while waiting for service in a pickle shop. She quickly becomes the object of all of his thoughts and desires, but there is one small problem: he doesn't know her name or where she lives. He arranges another trip to Kyoto on the next weekend and finds out her name, Nao Uryu, from the owner of the pickle shop, and starts an investigation around town of all of the Uryu families. He finds her working in her father's coffee shop, but his hopes are crushed when he finds out she is a year older and already in

junior high A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

. Sei is undaunted, though, and visits the coffee shop again, this time having a long and telling conversation with Nao's father while she is out visiting her mother. Upon her return, Nao and Sei take a walk around Kyoto, seeing the sights and talking. Sei, who forgetfully left his scarf in the coffee shop, is lent Nao's pink scarf for the walk. He waits for the day when Nao has to come to Osaka for the day to trade scarves so he can let her in on his feelings, but at the same time a girl at school is planning to do the same to him.

Cast

Critical reception

The film has not had a

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n or

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an release, and as such has no Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic score. Midnight Eye, a Japanese Film webzine, remarked that the film was "a low-key yet surprisingly charming drama that remained strangely overlooked by both foreign festivals and critics during its initial release,"Midnight Eye on Gomen
/ref> going on to say "despite the occasionally close-to-the-bone belly laughs, both the humour and the situations are sure to prompt sniggers of recognition with foreign audiences of all ages." Midnight Eye also noted "the only problem ... is that of pacing, with several scenes left to play slightly longer than they should."

Awards

*2002

Yokohama Film Festival The is an annual awards ceremony held in Yokohama, Japan. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year and various awards are given to personnel. The first festival, held on February 3, 1980, was a small affair by fans and film critics. In 1994, ...

- Festival Price, Best New Talent: Masahiro Hisano *2002

- Festival Price, Best New Talent: Yukika Sakuratani

References

External links

* {{Shin Togashi 2002 films Films directed by Shin Togashi Japanese films 2000s Japanese-language films