Some actors can transcend whatever crappy movie they happen to be in. Christopher Walken, for example, was notorious for appearing in straight-to-video sludge but also for making his scenes watchable in that weird, cool Walken way. He created a world oblivious to the depressing reality around him.
Riko Narumi, though not a weird teenager, has some of that same ability. Now 17, with nearly a decade of acting experience behind her, she has long been proclaimed a prodigy — Japan's own underage answer to Meryl Streep.
Which isn't fair to Narumi, since with a few exceptions, such as Jun Ichikawa's excellent, under-appreciated teen drama "Ashita no Watashi no Tsukurikata" ("How to Become Myself," 2007), her TV dramas and films haven't forced her to stretch a la Streep. Instead she is usually asked to play variations of the girl genius, be it at piano ("Shindo," 2007), kendo ("Bushido Sixteen," 2010) or, as in her latest film "Shodo Girls — Watashitachi no Koshien" (Calligraphy Girls — Our Koshien), Japanese calligraphy.