Screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto penned one of the ripest melodramas of the 2000s, ¡°Crying Out Love in the Center of the World,¡± before deciding that writing for the small screen was more rewarding. After over a decade spent creating the kinds of dramas that give Japanese TV a good name (yes, they exist), he¡¯s returned to cinema with his first original movie script.
It¡¯s a fact sufficiently noteworthy for Sakamoto¡¯s name to appear ahead of director Nobuhiro Doi¡¯s in the publicity for ¡°I Fell in Love Like a Flower Bouquet.¡± The latter is no dilettante, with an extensive TV resume as well as film credits including ¡°Be With You¡± (2004) and ¡°Flying Colors¡± (2015).
Yet this intimate, low-stakes romantic drama could almost be mistaken for a low-budget indie flick ¡ª assuming that viewers manage to overlook the impeccable production values and presence of two A-list stars, Kasumi Arimura and Masaki Suda.
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