Hanamizuki is a Japanese film by Nobuhiro Doi and starring Yui Aragaki and Toma Ikuta. It was released in Japanese cinemas on 21 August 2010. Hanamizuki was inspired by the lyrics of a popular love song of the same name. Hanamizuki may your love bloom a hundred years
The film's theme song was Hanamizuki, which was sang by Yō Hitoto and on which this film was based on.
Synopsis
This film spans the years of 1996 to 2006.
It begins in the year 2005 when Sae is traveling to her birthplace of Nova Scotia in Canada. On the bus, she looks at a photo, and the scene immediately goes back to 1996. Sae and Kouhei met on a train ride to their respective collage entrance examinations. The train hit a deer, causing Sae to worry about being late for the examinations. They went to a nearby house to ask if the owners could give them a lift. Sae spotted a key in the truck parked at the porch. She request Kouhei to "borrow" the truck to send her to the examinations. However, when Kouhei tried to overtake a slow cow truck, he narrowly avoided an incoming crane, but went out of the road and stopped in a ditch. They were brought to a police station and Sae was disqualified from her examinations.
Sae worked hard to get into university while Kouhei always supports her. However, he had mixed feelings about her going to Tokyo, because that would mean that they will be separated from each other. Hence, when Sae managed to get into Waseda University, Kouhei at first refused to see her off. However, after his friends' urging, they got onto a boat and chased after Sae, and when they saw her, they rolled out a banner reading, "Good Luck Sae!".
At Waseda University, Sae met Kitami, a senior who likes taking pictures of children. He helps Sae find a night job teaching English at a cram school and became good friends with her. Hence, when Kouhei visited Sae in Tokyo, upon seeing Sae and Kitami talking together, Kouhei got jealous. During the dinner date with Sae, Kouhei refused to eat anything and stormed out of the restaurant. On his way, a group of delinquent youths knocked down a box that contained Kouhei's present for Sae, and mocked him. A fight ensured, and Kouhei got injured. Sae brought Kouhei back to her apartment, where they made up together again. Kouhei then gives Sae the ship, which was similar to the one Kouhei was on when sent off Sae. Sae worries that their relationship will not last longer.
Four years later, a graduating Sae is unable to find a job in Tokyo. She met Junichi, who asks her to go to New York together with him. Kouhei was also told by his father that their fishing boat was about to be reprocessed by the bank, and he must find other jobs. Kouhei then contacts Sae, telling her that he plans to go Tokyo to find her. However, on the fishing boat's last trip, Kouhei's father got a heart attack and died. Kouhei is then unable to leave for Tokyo, as he had to take care of his mother and younger sister.
Later, Sae leaves for New York and meets up with Junichi, and they worked together in the same company. Junichi proposed to Sae later on. Sae returned to Kushiro to attend her friend Kitami's wedding, and she found out that Kouhei was married to Ritsuko. However, Ritsuko was jealous of the way Sae and her husband was interacting. Kouhei then met Sae at the lighthouse, and Sae tells him that this might be the last time she visits Japan. When Kouhei returned, he found Ritsuko waiting for him on the steps with bad news- the bank might make them bankrupt. Kouhei manages to settle the problem, but he found Ritsuko's divorce papers on the table when he returned. The scene ends with a news report stating that Junichi was killed in Iraq.
A year later, Sae visits her hometown of Scotia Nova, Canada. When she was walking, she chanced upon the ship that Kouhei had given her in a shop window and found out that Kouhei was part of a ship's crew that had docked in port. She rushed to see Kouhei, but just missed him.
