Happily Ever After (2007)
Director Yukihiko Tsutsumi wrings laughs out of an unlikely topic -- domestic violence -- in this dark comedy about noodle-shop waitress Yukie Morita (Miki Nakatani), who puts up with the fiery temper, gambling and cruelty of her shiftless, ex-gangster boyfriend (Hiroshi Abe). But as flashbacks reveal, there's a reason behind Yukie's unconditional love for her man. Yûko Natori and Mayumi Sada also star.
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Reviews
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
This movie is like 3 different films mixed in one. The first half is hard, wacky comedy. Nakatani Miki and Abe Hiroshi's chemistry was great, and I was laughing the whole time. Most of the second half, however, is straight up drama. It was a long reminiscence sequence that I found to be a bit too draggy. The last 15 minutes of this film is inspirational tear-jerker.Although the ending really moved me, I wish they just stuck with comedy for this manga-based film. They tried to make it a bit too deep for a comedy with the drama section, and it just ruined the whole film. The ending features an epiphany scene that I personally love seeing in Japanese films, but it just wasn't enough to save this film.I was once again impressed with Abe Hiroshi's versatility though, he just seems so natural in every single role he takes on. Nakatani Miki also did a very fine job in her rare leading role. Not great, but still a film worth watching.