Little Nights, Little Love (2019)

Perhaps a little too slow, even for its genre, but still, a nice story about life and love

I don’t think this is really a film that can be described by its plot, so if I had to sum up what this film was about, I’d say it was about the feeling of living without direction, hesitating to take action, and the difficulty of breaking out of a comfortable passive state to move one’s life forward. Perhaps it is also about how we experience moments in our lives, how sometimes the things that are important only come into relief in hindsight.

Though I wouldn’t say it was a particularly profound work, it was quite relatable at times and occasionally touching. Sato is definitely the main character, but the film follows a number of interconnected stories, thus there is a rather large cast of characters each with their own importance. They all seemed realistic, though Sato was the only one that really felt fleshed out. With the others, I felt we saw only select aspects of who they were, but I think that worked for the way the story was told. The events were generally mundane. Though it has a love story (actually multiple), it’s definitely more slice-of-life than it is heart-stopping romance.

I wasn’t always engaged by some of the side stories. That being said, I can’t really argue that those parts should have been cut, since each one somehow contributed to the themes of the film. It was structured in such a way that all the little things slowly built up, until by the end you could understand how they fit together. They weren’t random, even if at times it felt slow. A leisurely pace is to be expected from this sort of slice-of-life film, but I do think this movie felt longer than it was.

All the performances were good. Miura Haruma, in particular, I thought hit all the right notes as the lead character, but I would also like to mention Yamoto Yuma, who most often made me smile. Harada Taizo was quite memorable to me as well, though his part was relatively small.

The main theme performed by the street musician was beautiful, and both the melody and lyrics seemed perfectly suited to the film. As for the rest of the soundtrack … it was interesting. Sometimes jazzy, sometimes bluesy. Sometimes heavy on the percussion or electronics, other times simple and acoustic. Many scenes were set against silence, so overall I would say music was used sparingly. At times I liked what they did with it, but often I really wasn’t sure what they were going for.

The cinematography was decent, but nothing memorable.

In truth, I not entirely sure about my overall feelings towards this film and decided to write this review only because no one else had written one yet. I suppose I liked the story, but somehow I didn’t find the execution fully satisfying, even if I can’t put my finger on exactly what I felt was lacking. Still I think it’s a good film and would recommend it, depending on what you’re looking for. I wouldn’t necessarily watch this just for the romance. If you’re in the mood for a warm, slow-paced slice-of-life film that is also romantic, then this might be the movie for you.

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