I am starting the year off with a movie review. I hope it heals you and makes you laugh. I recommend this movie to anyone who’s ever experienced a love that you didn’t know was love at the time. And to anyone who’s found a friend in the worst period of their life, this movie is for you.
He Won’t Kill, She Won’t Die (2019) is a Japanese rom-com. Shikano Nana (Sakurai Hinako) and Kosaka Rei (Mamiya Shotaro) are seniors in high school. Rei is older than Nana, and their peers since Rei is retaking his senior year. Nana self-harms; therefore, she is outcasted and made out to be a freak. Rei is popular and seemingly cold and always tells everyone to die or that he’ll kill them. On the other hand, Nana is helpless and has no drive to live, but oddly she values life and the living. Rei is bored with his life, so when he meets Nana, they start to see how fun and exciting life can be with each other by their side.
Side note: This movie involves other characters and is broken up into three parts, but we are not aware of that until the ending. As it’s not very clear, the timeline often jumps between the three stories. Rei and Nana’s story is my favorite, and the main storyline revolving around the rest. Nonetheless, the other stories are interesting, and I believe valuable to understanding the main story.
Why I Love this Movie:
The storyline between Rei and Nana hit close to my heart. They are teenagers. Growing up is hard enough with the world around us; everyone has experienced that. It’s a universal experience. Nana is a very smart, compassionate, yet slightly disturbed character. She’s stuck between wanting to live and wanting to end it all. Rei is the analyzing type; he’s harsh and says what he thinks yet hides what he means. To me, their characters explain perfectly the complexity of being teenagers, and I love that. I rarely see that in movies. I love their bickering relationship, and there is a lot of dark humor and many unsaid gestures that they display clear to one another. They became friends with each other during the weirdest and most challenging moment in their lives and became a special friend who changed each other’s life forever in the best possible way. What seems like a dark, haunting life becomes a hopeful future and long lasting life full of friendship.
Nana:
She is such a funny character. I absolutely love her character. She’s a bit dark and cheery at the same time. She’s very awkward and impulsive. From the beginning, we see she’s not very stable as she self harms in her free time. Yet she values life so much, as we can see when she barries the bee, and her comments are rather sad when she takes about the fragility of life. Every time she hears about death, she becomes very sad and inconsolable as she pictures them as if it were her. She’s very empathetic and helpless at the same time. I love her friendship with Rei. They bicker and are very playful with each other. It’s a lot of dark humor and slightly disturbing with the number of times Nana takes about wanting to die. Still, I think that’s important for the movie as many teenagers talk about dying and death so casually when they are really crying out to be saved. Nana’s character grows at the end, and we see a very loved Nana.
Rei:
He is such a cold yet warm character. He always seems unbothered and chill at the same time. He displays great annoyance with everyone except Nana and his mother. He’s an interesting character, to say the least. He’s always messing around with Nana and telling her he’s going to kill her. Except he tells everyone to go die or that he’ll kill them. This is really ironic considering he’s truly a sweetheart and doesn’t care about what others think, he truly values his friendship with Nana, and they stick to each other like bees and honey. That became the main focus of their relationship, and it becomes apparent he truly loves Nana. They helped each other and genuinely became the friend they both needed. Rei’s character development is strong. He got his life together and became happy. He makes it a point that he wants to keep being with Nana and wants to plan for their future. And I love that he saw some hope and happiness in his life with Nana and his mom by his side.
Criticism Regarding the movie storyline:
Some might find this move cliché or boring. But I love personally loved the message, the cinematography, and the friendships. I did think it was odd in the filming aspect of jumping back and forth because the whole time, I thought it happened during the same timeline. But it’s revealed at the end how each storyline ties into one another. I thought it was cool because many loose ends made sense once that became clear to the audience. Many reviews are negative, and that’s simply because of Rei, and I don’t believe that’s justified as a reason, not like the movie. A good reason would be the psycho killer, as I found he didn’t add depth to the movie, and his portrayal is forgettable.
Overall Reaction:
I love this movie, and I keep thinking about it. It left me crying, happy, and hopeful. I thought it was really important to show this storyline. It was a good friendship that brought out the best in each other and not always as humans are humans. I love that they went from being curious about nothing to everything for the future. I think their meeting was a significant and important step in their life. It was meaningful and special to have met each other when they did. And they created an everlasting love and, more importantly, a friendship. Their days indeed became brighter and hopeful even when the world became cruel again.
Special Meaning for me:
I have never related to characters so much in my life. I had a similar experience in my first year of college. I was very sad at the moment and unmotivated, and I became friends with an unexpected person who changed my life forever; life became so beautiful and meaningful with their friendship. For an unrelated reason, I had to drop the class, and we lost contact as our meeting was brief but significant. I regard them as a special friend wherever they are in life. And if I ever meet them again, I will let them know that I honestly did love them and how their friendship meant so much to me because all I needed was a friend during that time. So to anyone who can relate, this is for you.
And for anyone who is grieving, this is also for you. Lost friendship and loss of a friend who’s passed are taboo and not often mentioned, but sadly, many teenagers experience a friend or peer’s death during their high school experience. And often, it’s hard to deal with death at such an early age. And I really love how the movie dealt with grief in this movie.
Please let me know what you think of this movie; what did you love or hate? Let me know what you think? I think it’s worth the watch. Girl, I am still crying.
CinemaDeJoei 