My Sunshine
Tender and touching Japanese drama about a shy, stuttering boy who develops a passion for figure skating (or perhaps his interest was first attracted by the girl he will form a skating couple with?).
My Sunshine is a beautifully crafted tale centred on two adolescent figure skaters who swirl through awakening emotions with the same grace and timidity that characterize their movements on the ice. This touching and simple story, set on a small Japanese island, follows young ice hockey player Takuya, proficient skater Sakura, figure-skating tutor Arakawa, and his boyfriend.
Takuya, a shy boy with a stutter, doesn’t feel at ease playing ice hockey with his schoolmates but is completely taken by Sakura’s graceful figure skating and decides to start following her coach, former champion Arakawa, just to be near her. As the story unfolds against cold and beautiful winter sceneries, it strays away from typical sports movie clichés and focuses on the bond of friendship that forms between its three protagonists. Capturing interpersonal dynamics and the subtle sensitivities typical of adolescence with insight and empathy, the film often recalls the cinema of Hirokazu Kore-eda and establishes Okuyama as a rising talent in Japanese cinema.