Nana - 2005

I love it. It’s a Japanese movie based on a manga (Nana, of course) but with real actors. It’s lovely, and many times watching some scene I felt like I was seeing a manga coming alive before my own eyes. Not necessarily this manga, because I actually never read Nana, I was speaking in general. When Ren shares a scarf with Nana because it’s very cold, that was such a manga scene, as well as when she jumped off the train, or when Hachi bought two glasses for the two of them :-) I really like it. Sure, there are some very slow moments because they had to put a lot of stuff in, Ren and Nana’s background and history together, Hachi’s love story with Shoji and work problems; at this point I must confess that Shoji and Sachiko are my favourites, Maybe they shouldn’t be because he did cheat on Hachi, but let me say this: of all the excuses people use for cheating, having found true love is definitely not the worst. They weren’t right for each other, it happens. The movie story: pretty Nana is going to Tokyo to meet Shoji, her boyfriend, and meets rock Nana on the train: they talk a lot and like each other. Pretty Nana was thinking of living with Shoji, we see her cleaning the whole apartment like a devoted wife and welcoming him home when he’s back from work, but he tells her she needs to find her own place and a job, to be more independent which actually would be good for her. While looking an apartment with a cheap rent (because on the seventh floor without elevator) she meets rock Nana, coming to see the same apartment, and her friend Yazu gives them the idea of living together sharing the rent, and they accept. Rock Nana thinks pretty Nana is very nice and sweet, but too much like a puppy and names her Hachi :-) It’s true, she really seemed like a puppy :lol: 

The movie gives us their whole stories. Nana has no parents, grew up with her grandmother but she died when Nana was fifteen. During that period she met Ren, a musician. Nana too has a passion for music, wants to be a great singer. For some time they were in a band together, with older Yazu now working in a law firm, and Nobu, a kid that sometimes seemes a bit like a puppy himself :lol:

Nana lived with Ren for more than a year, but then he got offered a position in a famous band in Tokyo, and left. She didn’t go with him because she didn’t want to give up her dream, she wants to become someone, to live her life following her own path and not just be somebody’s wife; as Hachi puts it “she chose pride over love”. They loved each other and never really broke up; we see the whole band at the station to say goodbye to him. She follows him on the train for a hug and a kiss out of the other’s eyes, then she jumps off and starts crying. Nobu is sad and runs to Ren but seeing him cry too he didn’t say a word. Yazu is a good friend, moves to Tokyo too, puts a band together again with Nana, Nobu and a new guy who answered their ad. He also has a part in having Nana and Ren meeting again :-) Hachiko knows nothing of this at first, she just loves Ren’s new band and invites Nana to go together to see their concert. Yazu and the others explain Nana and Ren’s relationship to her. At the last moment Nana accepts and they go together. Ren sees her and calls Yazu, agitated. Yazu calls Nana but she replies like she has no intention of getting back together with Ren, and Yazu tells her Ren is bonded with her, not free to go on. Ren always wears a chain as a necklace with a lock she gave him and she has the key, so she goes to Ren to give it back and put an end to their story. She goes to the hotel and meets him, gives back the key and goes away .Ren goes after her, she’s like ‘let me go’, he takes her hand again and she yells she’s not getting back with him and falls on her knees. He hugs her and tells her he missed her; “I missed you too” and they go to his room  …

Afterwards, in the bathtub, she tells him she won’t live with him because she still has her dream, so we know she’ll keep living with Hachi :-) but she doesn’t want to break up again, they’ll still see each other :-)

Hachiko’s story: She starts a job but is unhappy of not seeing Shoji as much as she’d like. At work, Shoji meets a girl just hired : Sachiko. It turns out they both work to pay their study at the same university. They spend a lot of time together now, seeing each other at work, going together to the station, and at the university too. They like each other, but for now are just friends. A common friend tells Shoji that Hachi thinks of marrying him, and he’s very troubled because he doesn’t know what to do. He knows he should stop seeing Sachiko, but when Sachiko tells him she understands, that she shouldn’t have fallen in love with him, that she can be just a friend without any need to break all contact, he doesn’t want to leave her, instead he takes her to his place and they make love. So, yes, he cheated on Hachi because they’re still together at this point in the story, but he loves Sachiko. One night Hachi and Nana go to the place where he works. Sachiko meets her and she’s troubled too because she finds her very nice and sweet. Sachiko tells Shoji they should end it there. Hachi and Nana wait outside for him to come out, but thinking she’s already gone, he’s with Sachiko. She’s running away and he’s after her. He hugs her but she breaks free so he tells her that he’ll break up with his girlfriend to be with her. Nana and Hachi hears it all. Nana goes forward, angry, asking for an explanation. Sachiko says it’s all her fault, she’s the only one to blame. Up until now Shoji looked very troubled, he doesn’t know what to say but when Nana goes forward , all like “ok then, I’ll blame you” he hugs Sachiko and protects her. He loves her and I admit they’re a beautiful couple and very lovely. I totally love when he hugs her, they’re so cute :-)

Hachi is hurt, of course, and cries a lot. She’s been fired from her job and has a new one where she’s constantly scorned because ‘she can’t do anything right, not even photocopies’. She’s having a hard time. She was always the optimist, happy one but now she’s going through a bad period. To make her happy, Nana asks Ren a favour. When Hachi comes home one night very tired and blue, Kasumi, Ren’s band’s musician she liked so much, welcomes her home and she cries, happy that Nana has done this for her :-)

I like it. Maybe if you don’t like mangas you can’t understand what I find irresistible in it, but I do. Well , of course not all mangas, only the ones with drawings and stories that appeal to me :-)

This was a nice story. Shoji and Sachiko felt so guilty about loving each other, and Hachiko struggled very much to make it on her own. Had she been alone it would have been much harder, It was a good thing that she was living with Nana :-D