if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Blistering performances.

OMG! And I mean that. What a wonderful weeper. A tad trite with some minor manipulations and big blunders, but it was well played and when crying time came I was a willing participant. This film contains a couple firsts for me: a pen fetish as plot device, (our heroine works in a pen store where they have test units "not ready" for sale); and a mandolin recital that reaches adrenaline rushing heights, (she also plays the mandolin). The performance of the man conducting the mandolin orchestra is worth the price of admission alone.Closed Note is beautifully shot and set. It's not unusual for movies to depict locations that promote envy in its viewers, but the lush, lush greenery embracing beautifully cut old and new Japanese architecture and landscape patterns, at times seeming to swallow them up, instills hope and a peaceful, serene mood without seeming fantastic. The second floor apartment where the girls in our film live, and lived, is reached by descending a large stone staircase which ends at the front door of the building. It's not clear how one reaches the apartment from that front door, but no matter. When loved ones leave the building, they ascend the stairs and arrive at the same level as the window to the apartment, making them seem far away and close at the same time; cries of love and farewell are given increased dramatic score.Hope and love and dreams. Heartbreak and ambition. They're all here, given voice by the school teacher whose diary our mandolin playing pen store clerk reads. It's a little tough at times to attach yourself to the way these matters of the heart are gleaned from interactions with her 4th grade students, but Yuko Takeuchi, as the school teacher, performs with such heart-tapping sincerity (you'll see), I played along willingly. There's a little girl who can no longer attend class because she doesn't feel she has he strength in her heart to live up to the teacher's plea to all be "children of the sun" and "live like a family", illustrating it with an example of someone farting in class. "Not that I'm advocating casual farting in class, but it doesn't matter who farted." Oops. Take a deep breathe. Move on.Although I think she could use a new hair stylist, Erika Sawajiri, as the diary reader, is as pretty and engaging as an angel; her performance is unimpeachable except for a couple boo-boos during the mandolin recital. Some of her facial expressions made me forget I was watching a movie and was instead reminiscing through found videotapes of my own true love.Yusuke Iseya, as the emotionally unavailable, or emotionally naive, love object and artist is also good. When he comes into the pen store to try out pens, he waves them around a bit, mumbles pen-love adjectives, scribbles a bit, and returns them to the clerk without looking at her. It's obvious he means business.Speaking of obvious, when the plot finally revealed itself completely I smacked my head and cried "Doh!" But the beauty of a good film with good performances, cinematography, and direction (performances, mostly) is staying inside the characters, not getting outside of them and thinking about things they are not thinking about. When the curtain is pulled back, we see what they see, as they see it, when they see it. Despite a few over-the-top moments, a couple inexplicable plot holes, Closed Note kept me engaged, inside its characters until the final page before the tacked on epilogue I could have done without because it kind of ruined the film. But no matter.

After watching this movie... I can kind of understand why Sawajiri Erika was in such a bad mood during that notorious movie premier incident. I personally am a big fan of Japanese Junai ("Pure love") genre films, but this is among the worst Junai movie I've ever watched.The setting of this movie is very promising, and I love the idea of tracing another person's life through a diary, but the story ended up grossly predictable with a series of clichés and corny lines. Even worse, character behaviors and story development in this film are extremely unnatural. It is true there were many touching scenes, but there were way too many plot holes and elaborate plot devices required to fit these scenes into the story. All the characters' behaviors were totally erratic... Why did Ishitobi bring Kae flowers and couldn't give it to her if he didn't love her at all? How did the notebook end up behind the mirror if Ibuki died in an accident with it? And worst of all, how can Kae's character start reading that letter in the art exhibition in that situation? That is exactly what Japanese people call "KY", not being able to read the atmosphere. And that mass throwing of paper planes from school? Give me a break. Characters' actions just didn't make sense and it was so corny, it was impossible for me to watch this movie without sneering. I'm sure Sawajiri Erika didn't expect this movie to turn out like this when she signed up to star in a Yukisada Isao film.Another thing that really bothered me was how draggy this film was. I have seen and enjoyed couple of films that are longer than its 2:20 duration, but this one felt MUCH longer. There definitely wasn't enough material to cover such a long play time and it was so poorly directed that it's hard to believe it was produced by the same person who made "Sekai no Chuushin...".It was a disaster as a movie, but acting in general was decent. Takeuchi Yuuko, especially, managed to shine. The mysterious teacher role suit her very well, just like in "Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu", and she didn't seem out of place like in every other role she's been in. Scenery in this film, especially the river and apartment scenes were quite beautiful and calming, though colors for the entire film was slightly over-saturated. I also liked the transitions from the present to the past events recorded in the notebook. Unfortunately, these small bits of successes were not enough to save this film.I expected much more from Yukisada Isao, I'm sure Erika-sama felt the same way when she answered "not really" to all questions during the premier. It truly is "not really" a remarkable film. The ending of this movie was also very empty and unsatisfying considering it was a Junai film. What this movie really lacked was intensity, especially since YUI's great theme song for this movie was so intense.