Let Me Eat Your Pancreas is a film adaption of the novel by the same name written by Yoshida Tomoko. Oguri Shun, Kitamura Takumi,(Leader of band DISH//) Hamabe Minami, Kitagawa Keiko, Yamoto Yuma, and, Kamiji Yusuke star in the film as part of a young cast. Tsukikawa Sho directed the film for the big screen while Sumino Yoru changed the story to a script perfect for the adaption's time duration. Minami and Takumi also won many awards for their roles, including Best NewComers at the 2017 Japan Academy awards. The film became the fifth highest grossing film of 2017 in Japan. An anime film was made as well.
A teacher relives the days that he spent with a classmate that was suffering from a terminal illness. His memories will play a great part in how he chooses to live his life in the present.
There's a gazillion Japanese films that have scripts about young girls dying from sickness and the male character reliving times he spent with her. The person question lingering over Let Me Eat Your Pancreas is how is this film different from those other films? Honestly, It doesn't have many differences from the normal traits seen in all those other films. However, The film does continue to prove why Japanese film makers continue to do this kind of storytelling so well. Opening scenes for the film are not really too attention grabbing. At least not to those who want drama that will engage you in dramatic dialogue. The action is instead in the fine details of school life as the two characters meet each other out of the blue. Paying attention to the little details in the characters interactions are both a sad and equally funny experience. These interactions make the daunting question in the back of your head: "When is she going to die?" all the more apparent. Then the time switches are executed smoothly without you feeling that you're being cut off from one storyline for the other. The best parts of Let Me Eat Your Pancreas are the messages of learning to grow into your own skin. School life can be one of the hardest times to figure out who you are. For the people who got a firm hold on who they wanted to be at that time, I'm impressed but most people don't find out who they want to be until long after high school or middle school. So this film focuses on knowing who you choose to be then owning up to that choice no matter what anyone has to say. The second message in the script uses the most shocking part of the film to drive the message's meaning home for everyone invested in the story while watching, even the characters in the story themselves. I was taken for a loop big time. It was clear that a strong message was being conveyed during this part of the film. Never take time for granted because we might not get tomorrow. Do all the things you want to do no matter how crazy or unattainable your goal might seem. None knows when we are going to die. Viewers are forced to swallow all of this and it's a big pill to swallow, however it's a blessing in disguise for the characters that had regrets in the present. Let Me Eat Your Pancreas has heartwarming ending embraced in sadness. Viewers will come out of this film learning more about life and we are better for it.
I want to note that I think Takemi looks nothing like Shun. They don't have the same facial features and I don't think that the character would have grown up to look like Shun. Nice try on the directors part though. Only thing that looked the same was their hairstyle. Both actors were wonderful at playing each others counterpart. That same dark with drawn personality couldn't be mistaken on either character. Minami's performance made me sad as I watched her character always be witty and happy even though she was hurting on the inside. I enjoyed the contrast of where both characters were on the social spectrum in school. You wouldn't have known had it not been for the excellent performances from the costars.
The shots are done in a simple fashion. I did notice that some scenes are more stylishly filmed than others. Most notably being the library scenes where the camera sometimes pans downward from the ceiling showing the who span of the room as sunlight comes in through a white curtained window. I also loved the way the camera shot the scenes leading into the time transition from the past to the present. Simply having the older version of a character walk past the younger version of another character or vice versa.
Let Me Eat Your Pancreas isn't a trend setting film in the Japanese cinema mellow drama category. It does show you why Japanese writers continue to write these kinds of stories without them getting boring. The emotional meanings of the scripts stick with viewers through reliability of a human struggle called life.
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