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The Worst Film Ever

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I like this movie. It is having a tragic end which is going to stay with you forever. The movie depicts the charming love story of Snehamoy, a mild manner school teacher staying in the outskirts of Suderbans(a village in West Bengal) and a girl faraway in a Japanese village who start out as pen-pals,fall in love and remain in long distance relationship for almost 17 years without meeting each other.Their romance unfolds through series of letters and occasional phone call.Surely this movie will evoke emotion within you."The Japanese Wife", being made by Aparna Sen, one of India's top art-house filmmakers, is the latest in a trend to showcase the lives and emotions of ordinary people in contrast to Bollywood's traditional offerings of fluffy romances or violent dramas.

I've little doubt that Aparna Sen has produced his 2010 film The Japanese Wife with the best of intentions; the piece covering the exploits of two people and the love they share across a vast distance, without ever actually being able to meet. The film aims for swooping; sweeping; love-lorn imbued romance of grandeur proportions that it believes will have a greater effect on its audience than it does in reality, a piece covering those sharing a seemingly impossible tie across such a great distance and yet having the maintaining of such a relationship look later like the least of each of their respective woes. What it more often than not resembles, however, is a trite; television disease movie of the week - a film that has all but lost us by the end as little more than a contrived and limply made drama, sickly easing its way from sentimental set piece to set piece as these people come together to softly spoken narration and warmly lit locales.The film covers that of young Indian Snehamoy (Bose), a single gentleman with a penchant for maths whom lives alone with his cat on a rural patch of land in a village not too far from a more hustling, bustling town of activity. Snehamoy latches onto a system encompassing long distance relationships with other pen-pals – people of whom wish to exchange letters and so on; a sort of lonely hearts club for people wanting to look abroad or over a longer distance for potential love and kinship. With this arrives the (eventual) titular Japanese wife, named Miyage (Takaku), as well as the long distance relationship that makes up the crux of the film. It's here, despite the modern setting, the film rejects the notion of more contemporarised means of communications; settling for pen and paper over e-mail or social networking and thus gambling on etching as much effect as possible out of such means – a gamble I was wanting to come through, but doesn't. With it, we are to suspend our belief that, despite Japan being somewhat of a hub for global technology – technology encompassing annoying innovations that actually make it easier for one to communicate, the Japanese based Miyage will engage in the premise that she does for ideas and thought exchange.It is established Snehamoy has already beaten malaria on three separate occasions, so the man is a fighter or someone used to striving on through relatively tough, testing times; the film really kicking off when Miyage arrives on the scene and the exchanges begin in earnest. The plot, suffice to say there barely is one, consists of Snehamoy and Miyage exchanging letters and getting along relatively swimmingly amidst the relationship Snehamoy shares with his aunt, with whom he sees eye to eye more often than not. That's it, that's practically the entire story. The bond works too quickly between Snehamoy and his Japanese contact, they fall in love over one another's written word and exchange marriage vows before maintaining that trust across fifteen years; the leap forwards providing the audience with little in the way of time to allow for their marriage to resonate and falsifying the naturalistic feel to their ties the film aims for.Around it, a meaningless and entirely fruitless exercise in melodramatics transpires; two people getting along wonderfully well, but kept apart by the distance between them, continuing to exchange letters and continuing their lives made tougher only by the fact social interaction with others is difficult. They deduce travelling to see one another is challenging, the exchange rate between the Japanese and Indian currencies rather vast and yet at no point does Miyage ever offer to pay for Snehamoy's air-fare for a bond that is supposedly so intense. The Indian telephone lines down at Snehamoy's end are usually rife with demons, making communication there quite tough and keeping the written word the only means through which to communicate. Letters are sent and letters are received; and then more letters are sent and then the damn things are narrated, because static shots of pieces of paper for long durations I guess isn't interesting; and we wonder if these people are really eloquent enough to put down the things they write or whether we are hearing a screenwriter's fifth draft of a hodge-podge script.Later, Snehamoy has what can only be described as a "kite-off" with some fellow Indians whilst using the Japanese kites his wife has sent him. Snehamoy, being as qualified in mathematics as he is, and with that coming the required knowledge in sums; volume; mass and formulae, is able to have this "kite-off" on a day in which there is very little wind – work that one out. These fellow Indians, whose own kites see them label the contest one of national pride, induce antagonism against Snehamoy because of his tryst with Miyage; sources of antagonism which stand alone and unchallenged in what is a fairly interesting area for such things, one of which might have seen the exploring of ill-judged prejudices people have against both inter-racial relations and cross-cultural bonds. Surprisingly, Sen backs off from such a thematic; instead offering us flat, banal alternatives.Later on, Snehamoy's aunt, whom through some convoluted means, introduces a young woman to proceedings; a female character that appears to fall at Snehamoy's feet and comes equipped with a daughter Snehamoy bonds well with. However she, like us, can only continue to observe Snehamoy stick to some undying principal that has him loyal to his Japanese wife of a decade-plus; the whole thing feeling like an odd glorification of speeding up one's romantic ties, through whatever means, when the waiting and allowing natural enough processions to play out with those in proximity to you, and to what would have been a charming scenario of romance with this new woman, appearing evident. Stale; repetitive and really rather misjudged in the places it goes, The Japanese Wife is one to skip.

Excellent plot and very touchy movie I have watched after a long time. Thank you thank you thank you to Aparna Sen and everyone worked for this movie. Even in today's modern techno era she is giving a nice message through a simple yet ever lasting movie. Rahul, Mousomi and Raima are excellent in their respective roles.This movie is about a pen friendship between a guy (Rahul) of very very rural area of West Bengal, India and a girl (Chigusa) from Japan. They fall in love and marry by exchanging letters. They were committed to each other. That's how the title came - The Japanese Wife. The wife came to W.B, India to meet her husband after 17 years of marriage (through letter) but what's waiting there...you must watch. Hope you'll enjoy.Note: Most of the letter conversations are in English and it has a sub title as well. So folks who don't know Bengali, shouldn't be a problem.Thanks!

The Japanese Wife is an exquisitely crafted film, with the entire emotional gamut of a love story so unbelievable and yet so touching and universal distilled onto the silver screen. The performances are heart-rending and so realistic that the viewer is just pulled completely into the characters' world. From the restrained turbulence of Raima Sen to the poignancy of Chigusa Takaku, this film probably marks complete departures in roles for its entire cast. The direction is expectedly superb from Aparna Sen as each scene seems to sigh with the beauty of the Sunderbans and delicately fashion each character in the landscape.Most interesting for me was the subtle way in which the film tried to make a point about xenophobia and the stupidity of people who adhere to it. When Miyage sends over a box of kites for their 15th wedding anniversary which Snehamoy intends to fly at the Vishwakarma Puja, the sporting kite war is turned into shouts of "Bharater ghuri Zindabad! Japaner ghuri Murdabad!" from one ignorant tramp, which then another ignorant tramp turns into "Duniyar mazdur ek ho!".In all, a triumph for the cast, crew and for romantics who dare to believe in the impossible. A must see.