Given the widely reported apathy toward relationships and sex among Japan’s youth, it’s tempting to wonder if romantic dramas shouldn’t properly be filed under fantasy.
Filmmakers working on the fringes of the commercial mainstream, such as Rikiya Imaizumi (“Just Only Love”) and Yoshiyuki Kishi (“(Ab)normal Desire”), have grappled with the complexities of modern romance and sexuality. By contrast, the major studios seem content to keep churning out paeans to pure love that have as much bearing on the present-day reality as a kabuki production.
Tomokazu Yamada’s “April, Come She Will” promises a break from convention. The Toho-produced drama, adapted from a 2016 novel by Genki Kawamura, purports to be less interested in the blossoming of love than in what comes afterward: disappointment, compromise, wedding bells and all the rest.