Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on July 2014

Sad Tea is another film which had its premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival last year. It addresses the vagaries of romance for a host of different primary characters each trying to figure out what love is (aren’t we all?). Director Rikiya Imaizumi has crafted a thought-provoking if curious piece that hovers between melodrama and light comedy. Shin (Seiji Okabe) hopes to become a director. He lives with Yuko (Chihiro Nagao) but has a relationship with Midori (Aya Kunitake). As a counterpoint, his friend Waseda (Tomohisa Takeda), who’s committed to his girlfriend Sonoko (Kayo Hoshino), is suddenly taken with a shop assistant and dumps his girlfriend in the hope the new woman will have him. Natsu (Chika Uchida) endures an abusive relationship yet rationalizes that it has its good points, too. Bon (Takuya Fuji), the manager of a coffee shop, is in love with waitress Tanako (Fumiko Aoyagi), who rebuffs him constantly and has the hots for Shin. The characters muse on love and occasionally take small steps toward happiness. Overall, Imaizumi has formed a reasonably realistic and entertaining ensemble drama with some insight into human behavior. (120 min)