Korean title: Sesang-eui Joongshimehseo Sarang-eul Woechida
Starring: Osawa Takao, Shibasaki Kou, Sugimoto Tetta
Director: Isao Yukisada
Studio: Enter One (Korea)
Rating: NR
Genre: Drama

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About This DVD

Sekai no Chushin de, Ai wo Sakebu, a Japanese romance novel by Katayama Kyoichi, sold over 3 million copies in Japan alone, is now adapted into one of the biggest hits of the summer box office in Japan!

The film, directed by Yukisada Isao from Go, starring Osawa Takao (Gege) and Shibasaki Kou (One Missed Call), who brings great performances into one of the most loved and romantic films!

Isao Yukisada's "Sekai no Chushin De Ai o Sakebu (Crying Out for Love at the Center of the World)" brings the formula up to date -- by shamelessly hitting the oldest audience buttons of all. Its lovers are young, pure and doomed, while the setting, a picturesque seaside town, is light years away from Shibuya. Think a Sayuri Yoshinaga movie, circa 1965. So why is this film packing theaters, mostly with girls in their teens?

First, Kyoichi Katayama's novel of the same title is popular with said girls.

Second, Takao Osawa and Ko Shibasaki -- two of the hottest TV and film stars of the moment -- play the leads.

Third, Isao Yukisada ("Go," "Kyo no Dekigoto") has the right commercial take on his story -- trendily stylish enough to attract the core young audience, broad enough to cue even the inattentive that it's time to pull out that hankie. In other words, "Sekai" can not only compete effectively on the big screen, but play well on the small one.

The story, by Yukisada and scriptwriters Yuji Sakamoto and Chihiro Ito, glides smoothly between the present and 1986, when the main events unfold. Sakutaro (Osawa), a businessman in his early 30s, is living on autopilot, in a slow, downward spiral -- until his fiancee, Ritsuko (Shibasaki) ups and leaves him. The reason: an old cassette tape that prompts disturbing memories -- and a trip to their source, the town in Shikoku where she and Sakutaro (boyhood nickname: "Saku") grew up. Following after her, he begins to reminisce about his youth -- and his love for a girl named Aki.

Switch to the summer of 1986, when Saku (Mirai Moriyama) and Aki (Masami Nagasawa) are second-year high-school students. Tall, athletic and vivacious, Aki is the very picture of a kenko bijin (healthy beauty) -- and hopelessly out of reach for the all-too-average Saku. But Aki takes an interest in him (his clunker of a motor scooter is a draw), and Saku is soon in her thrall, though he would rather die than show it. They begin hanging out together, sending requests to an all-night radio show and listing their likes and dislikes (Aki, predictably, is a fan of "Roman Holiday," Saku of "Enter the Dragon.") Then they start exchanging audio diaries on cassette tape and become something more than pals. The culmination is a romantic (if chaste) night on an uninhabited island -- and the revelation that Aki is desperately ill.

Saku, once just a moonstruck teenage boy hoping to get lucky, realizes that Aki needs him and that he will be there for her, no matter what. But he fails to fulfill her last request -- and 17 years later is still agonizing about what might have been.

Audio Format:	DD 5.1 Surround, DD 2.0 Stereo
Video Format:	Widescreen 2.35:1 (Anamorphic)
Languages:	Japanese
Subtitles:	English, Korean, Japanese
Country Made:	Japan
Region Code:	3
Year Made:	2004
Running Time:	138
Special Features:	Special Edition Offers: - Deluxe Package - Photo Cards - Guide Booklets Special Features: - Music Video : Sung by Kim Hyeong-Jung - Interview with director at PIFF - Interview with director - Trailers (Japanese/Korean version) (4) - TV spots (3) - Still Gallery - Cast & Crews - Screen Essay by Cast
Availability:	Usually ships in 5-10 days