Get the tissues out
It would be wrong to call Heavenly Forest a rip-off of the romantic movie Love Collage. Takuji Ichikawa, author of popular romance Be With You, wrote a novelisation of Love Collage after he was touched by the movie, and that book became Heavenly Forest.
So now we have a movie adaption of a novel adapted from a movie. It's a predictable story about two outcasts at university taking photographs and eventually falling in love.
The movie, directed by Takehiko Shinjo, is a melting pot of J-pop elements. There's a love triangle: a quirky girl, a young man who can't make up his mind and a beautiful classmate; a photo exhibition (in New York, again, as if NYC is the only city in the world to hold exhibitions) on the subject of lost love, and a rather uplifting message that teaches us to treasure the present.
Although it has little new to offer, the movie is still a success as it manages to achieve its goal: it will move its target audiences of female teens to tears.
All credit should go to Aoi Miyazaki, the star of Nana. Her childish and innocent appearance suits her bespectacled, geeky role to a T. The heart-breaking scene when her character kisses her Prince Charming is both magical and tragic.
Don't bother with this movie if you watched Love Collage. Otherwise, don't forget your tissues. A movie about young love is worth crying about.
