Tokyo Tower: Mom and me, and sometimes dad

分類：jpop
2007/11/19 10:37
Two weeks after download completed, I finally found the time to see this film during this weekend. Basically, I cried from the beginning until the end. I'm afraid that I will burst into tears while I write this now.
The movie was adapted from Lily Franky's autobiography. The plot centres around Masaya Nakagawa's memory of the time he spent with his mother, with a few parts where his father comes in.
Mrs. Nakagawa left her husband with Masaya when he was three years old. As a single mother, she raised him alone by doing part-time jobs and running a small restaurant in a rural village. Though life was hard, she never complained nor give up; instead, she never forgets an opmistic attitude and a big smile. No matter how bad Masaya's grades are, she never really take it seriously. Instead, she continued to buy gifts for her son, prepare a huge dinner for just only Masaya. Mrs. Nakagawa rarely thought for herself.
When Masaya was fifteen, just like many other teens, he was tired of the rural village and decided to go to Tokyo for a change. The first part that dissolved my first piece of tissue paper was when they were at the train station. Mrs Nakagawa was on the platform looking at the departing train that was about to take her son away. Her eyes released the sadness of separating with her only son. The camera then shifted on to Masaya whom sat on the train and got out his bento. While eating his riceball he found an envelope within the food. It was a letter from Mrs. Nakagawa along with ten thousand yen. In the letter she mentioned none about herself, but kept on reminding him to take care of himself.
In Tokyo, Masaya was living a life that was even more hopeless and empty. He smoked, gambled, slept with girls, partied, failed courses, lost jobs, and lost a goal. He would only think about his hard working mother whenever he ran out of money. He phones her, not to care for her but to ask for more money. But again, Mrs. Nakagawa never complained, but worked harder and harder. Boy was she happy to receive the university diploma Masaya finally got later. Masaya asked her once, "When you bought the bed for me, you spent all your savings didn't you?" Mrs. Nakagawa smiled and said "Of course I did". She stood up and got out Masaya's diploma, she carrased and said "this is my last and only saving now".
Masaya finally got a grip of himself when he learnt that his mother has gotten stomach cancer. He worked hard (I haven't mentioned his career yet have I? He's a painter/sketcher) and got numerous jobs. Eventually he brought his mother over to Tokyo to live with him in his little apartment. During that time, Mrs. Nakagawa was supportive as usual. Beaming to him all the while he's working and making delicious dinners for him. It was perhaps the best part of the movie. He and his girlfriend would take her mother out to eat and play and have fun. Her mother became good friends with his friends as well. Life was happy for all of them.
Yet the happiest time always seem to be the shortest time. Mrs. Nakagawa's health condition worsened. She was forced to move into the hospital for further treatment. The part where I was crying the hardest could be seen from the above photo where Masaya took her mother's hand as they walked to the hospital. It was the second time that he held her hand.
Masaya had always been hiding from his mother that he hosted an adult radio show each night. But Mrs Nakagawa somehow managed to find the channel and listened to it everytime even when she was so weak that she was dying. She must have been so proud anyway that she didn't even care what kind of show it was!
Mrs. Nakagawa died, and Masaya cried. Depressed obviously, he could not continue to complete his drawing that was due on that day. Suddenly, he saw an illusion of his mother, except younger. She said to him "You gotta work! Let me see you work again, for the last time". Masaya moved a small coffee table beside his mother's dead body and started to draw. He was murmuring "I'll show you mom, I'll draw the funniest cartoon ever, you just watch me".
His mother left him a box after she died. Inside the box was various things such as photos she took with young Masaya. She even kept a part of the umbilical cord of Msaya. Then he saw a letter she had written. Once again, nothing about herself except supporting sentences for him. It just proves that, starting with his birth, her mother was already collecting everything of him. Even until her death, she is still supporting him. Another place where I cried to my limit (imagine how noisy I was)
The film ended with Masaya holding her mother's death tablet up from Tokyo Tower - the destination his mother always wanted to visit before she died. "We're here mom, Isn't it great?"
This is an ordinary movie, but it is so ordinary that we're easily taken inside the movie and inside the characters. And we're easily affected and touched. I don't usually cry in films or dramas that are suppose to evoke tears, for example "Nada sousou", "Crying out love in the centre of the world", and "one litre of tears". In this film, I can feel a similar love from my parents. I know how if feels to see my parents walking into the airport custom, and discovering a letter in my room filled with encouragements. I know how it feels to see them working so hard and finally catching a cold but still insisted to go out and buy clothes for me (They insisted!). They wouldn't yell at me if I fail my courses (Not that I have), they're always giving, but they aren't asking.
Both my mother and Masaya's mother are really cool people. They're so cool that children like me and Masaya can't ever repay them, they've givin us too much. Just like what Joe Odagiri said: "This isn't just a story about Lily Franky, this is a story about you, and about me". That is true.
And, lastly, I'll post the official site URLTokyo Tower: mom and me, and sometimes dad Official TW site