Giving the gift to someone else who cant have it is in itslef a great deed. The movie sums up some very nice dealings of our life. How one bad decision derails our life. The orthogonal behavior of the parents. The joy of being a parent, doing something for people so they could enjoy that too. Heart warming when the couple decided to go through it together, also signifies the importance of successful marriage even when the things arent going well. The scenes at island were shot differently seemed like a doxumentary is playing for a while. Maturity comes with a cost- trauma or time.

It was refreshing to be drawn from both perspectives. I think Naomi Kawase is one of the best Japanese direcors.

For the most part, well directed and acted. Actress Hiromi Nagasaku especially conveys the complex feelings of a women unable to obtain a biological child with her current partner. The script is loaded with melodramatic possibilities, but the director mostly refuses to allow her actors to play this card. However, the photoplay is much too long and sometimes simply boring. Some sequences are edited in the style of documentary interviews. Cinematography is poor. Often scenes look more like a TV show (lots of extreme close-ups) than a big-screen movie. Bleached out scenes from shooting directly into the light predominate. Score is stuck on one theme. Subtitles seem close enough. Ending is too contrived. Best line: "I'm from Nara ~ oh yes, deer country!" Viewed at JICC J-Film Fest.