Ryuichi Hiroki has become the go-to director for romantic dramas that quality-wise are a cut above the local formula weepers whose starred-crossed lovers are parted by a slow, beautiful death (though Hiroki's couples are hardly immune to life's vicissitudes). At the same time, his films in this genre are pitched at a bigger audience than the typical furrow-browed indie, including fans of the pop/literary novel on which they are inevitably based.

As can be seen in "Kiiroi Zo (Yellow Elephant)," a drama about a just-married couple self-exiled to the countryside, Hiroki delivers the sentiment these fans demand, drained of the genre's rampant sentimentality. Instead of banging away with tearjerking scenes, TV-drama style, he keeps his camera gently swaying at a discreet remove, like a sensitive, watchful, observer. Also, his soundtrack music, supplied this time by composer/musician Yoshihide Otomo, unobtrusively underscores the on-screen emotions, in contrast to the usual treacly J-pop ballads.

Finally, and to his lead actresses most importantly, Hiroki brings out their best both visually and dramatically, though not with standard-issue glamor shots and showy acting. In the case of Aoi Miyazaki, playing the unworldly wife of a struggling novelist (Osamu Mukai), Hiroki focuses not on the 1,000-watt smile that made her famous but, in one lingering closeup in softly glowing light, a combination of angelic purity and womanly fire that makes her seem at once vulnerable and formidable.