Movielogr
For Those We Love (2007)
Directed by Taku Shinjo
Overview
In 1943, as Japan’s WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of “volunteer” flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara’s repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.
Length 135 minutes
Actors
Satoshi Tokushige | Yosuke Kubozuka | Michitaka Tsutsui | Mikako Tabe | Yasuyuki Maekawa | Tomoya Nakamura | Dai Watanabe | Noboru Kimura | Ren Hulk | Yuji Miyashita | Shinichi TANAKA | Katsutaka Furuhata | Noriko Nakagoshi | Sachiko Sakurai | Naho Toda | Yoshiko Miyazaki | Minori Terada | Kanae Katsuno | Ryôhei Abe | Ken'ichi Endô | Masatō Ibu | Satoru Matsuo | Toru Emori | Dennis Falt | Cleve Gray | Ichiro Hashimoto | Renji Ishibashi | Hiroshi Katsuno | Keisaku Kimura | Keiko Kishi | Mikage | Haruku Ren | Suzunosuke | Yoshida Ayano | Takeo Nakahara | Hiroyuki Nagato | Koji Matoba | Takashi Inoue | Shinichiro Matsuura | Chieko Iinuma | Naoki Yukawa