MOVIE REVIEW | THE MIRACLES OF THE NAMIYA GENERAL STORE (SPOILER FREE)

June 27, 2020

Release date: September 23, 2017

Runtime: 129 min.

Genre: Drama/Fantasy

Language: Japanese

In 2012, Atsuya and his 2 childhood friends do something bad and run into an old general store. They decide to stay there until the morning. Late into the night, Atsuya sees a letter in the mailbox. The letter is addressed to the Namiya General Store and the letter was written by someone to consult about worries. Incredibly, the letter was written 32 years ago. The mailbox is somehow connected to the year 1980. Atsuya and his friends decide to write a reply and place their letter in the mailbox.

This movie means so much to me. It is based on the best-selling novel by Keigo Higashino with the same title. It comprised of three related short stories. Each story is told beautifully. I never read the book, but after watching it, I feel like reading it because normally I would enjoy the book more. So, I think the book will be even greater than the movie.

This movie talks about heavy stuff; suicide, broken family, hopeless dreams. I can relate to most of the characters, hence why the movie speaks so much to me. I always feel like what I am doing now is worthless, that I won't succeed despite doing what I genuinely enjoy. And this movie taught that, maybe not succeeding is not such a bad thing. Maybe the reason why we still are not succeed is because we play an even more important role in life than that.

I personally like the first short story the most. But then again, I cried for every story. The second one deals about suicide, and there is this one line when the character is visiting her friend who just attempted suicide that I really like. She said, "I don't want anyone to die, including you." And I just cried so hard because instead of comparing her suffering to make her friend 'better', she actually weaved her words intricately to make her friend understand that she is worth it and her life is precious. Gosh, as I'm typing this, tears are welling up in my eyes.

However, the pace does get slow a bit in the middle. And going back and forth between the timeline sometimes gets confusing. But these minor flaws do not affect me to enjoy the story because the message being conveyed is more predominant.

Besides, the acting is 100%! They are all so good. But I personally fall in love with Ryosuke Yamada 😊 It's been awhile since I like real men, but seeing Ryosuke is like what John Green said, "I fell in love the way you fall asleep, slowly and then all at once." After watching the movie, I found out that he won an award for his role as Atsuya in this movie, and honestly he deserved it.

Overall, please watch it if you haven't already. This movie will be engraved in my heart for a long time, if not eternity. I wish I could go back in time and watch it for the first time again. Highly, highly recommended. I can't recommend it enough.

Rate: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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