For Those We Love

Taku Shinjo
2007-05-12


6.1
135 min

In 1943, as Japan's WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of "volunteer" flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara's repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.

Cast

Name Character Team
Satoshi Tokushige Kapitän Nakanishi Unowned
Yosuke Kubozuka Leutnant Bando Unowned
Michitaka Tsutsui Leutnant Tabata Unowned
Keiko Kishi Tome Torihama Unowned
Mikako Tabe Reiko Torihama Unowned
Yasuyuki Maekawa Kaneyama Unowned
Tomoya Nakamura Soichi Kawai Unowned
Dai Watanabe Staff Sergeant Kato Unowned
Noboru Kimura Second lieutenant Abe Unowned
Ren Hulk Sergeant first class Matsumoto Unowned
Yuji Miyashita Staff sergeant Ishikura Unowned
Shinichi TANAKA Araki Unowned
Katsutaka Furuhata Shigeo Oshima Unowned
Noriko Nakagoshi Ichieda Tsuruta Unowned
Sachiko Sakurai Hisako Bando Unowned
Naho Toda Ryoko Tabata Unowned
Yoshiko Miyazaki Kawai's mother Unowned
Minori Terada Unowned
Kanae Katsuno Mioko Torihama Unowned
Ryohei Abe Unowned
Tohru Emori 田端由蔵 Unowned
Ken'ichi Endô Colonel Azuma Unowned
Masatô Ibu Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi Unowned
Satoru Matsuo Unowned
Tohru Emori Unowned
Dennis Falt American naval officer Unowned
Cleve Gray Bloodied Sailor Unowned
Ichiro Hashimoto Unowned
Renji Ishibashi Shojo Tsuruta Unowned
Hiroshi Katsuno Colonel Azuma Unowned
Keisaku Kimura Unowned
Keiko Kishi Torihama Unowned
Mikage Unowned
Haruku Ren Unowned
Suzunosuke Tanaka Shimizu (as Suzunosuke) Unowned
Yoshida Ayano Unowned
Takeo Nakahara Military police Unowned
Hiroyuki Nagato Oshima's grandfather Unowned
Koji Matoba Navy captain Yukio Seki Unowned
Takashi Inoue Unowned
Shinichiro Matsuura kamikaze pilot Unowned
Chieko Iinuma Unowned
Naoki Yukawa Unowned