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Japanese Movie Review: Rurou no Tsuki (Wandering) (2022)

Are you an open minded person? If so, you might want to give this movie a try.

***

Hello, everyone! So, today, I want to share a quick, simple review about a movie, Wandering (流浪の月).

(The official movie poster)
Native Title: 流浪の月
Other Titles: The Wandering Moon
Screenwriter & Director: Lee Sang Il
Genres: Mystery, Drama
Cast: Suzu Hirose, Tori Matsuzaka, Ryusei Yokohama, Tamaki Shiratori, Mikako Tabe, and others.
Duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Wandering tells a story of a 9-year-old Sarasa Kanai (Tamaki Shiratori) who got invited by 19-year-old University student, Fumi Saeki (Tori Matsuzaka) to come to his house. For the next 2 months the two lives together and forms a strange bound, until Fumi was arrested by the police for a kidnapping. Then, years later, Sarasa (Suzu Hirose) is an adult now. She works part time in a family restaurant and lives with a seems kind but controlling boyfriend, Ryo Nagase (Ryusei Yokohama). Sarasa feels that her life is empty and she knows that she's not really comfortable being in a relationship with Ryo. One night, Sarasa and her friend visit a coffee shop and the owner of that coffee shop is Fumi Saeki.

(Suzu Hirose as adult Sarasa Kanai)

(Tori Matsuzaka as Fumi Saeki)
(Ryusei Yokohama as Ryo Nagase)

(Mikako Tabe as Ayumi Tani)

So, the first thing that I want to tell you is that this movie contains heavy, deep, sensitive topics that don't usually appear or are discussed in a movie. That's why I remind you that you have to be an open minded person to understand the essence of this movie. 

I actually want to discuss Wandering because I have so much going on in my head about this movie, but it can't be done without revealing a spoiler. I will try my best tho.

Young Sarasa lived with Fumi can be considered as a kidnapping, because Sarasa was a minor and Fumi was an adult. Although nothing bad happened when they lived together (Fumi treated her well, never touched Sarasa, and he even protected Sarasa with his own life), in society, this thing is still considered wrong because people don't know what really happen during their time together. People will assume and think what they want to think, and in this case, people will think badly because in many cases that's what happen. I hope you understand my point. Fumi is labeled as pedophile in this movie.

When we watch this movie, we thought, "Yes, that's what people would think, but these people don't know the whole story." So it's like a morally grey story. Fumi's action is considered wrong, but we, who watch this movie, also know there's more than showed on the surface. Fumi and Sarasa are just two broken people. I can't hate Fumi because he didn't touch Sarasa and even protected her. And when I watched Fumi's backstory, I sympathized him. He has been through a lot. 



(Tamaki Shiratori as young Sarasa)

Sarasa has been through a lot as well. There's a reason why she wanted to come with Fumi. I understand why she feels a great connection with Fumi. Sarasa becomes a beautiful and strong woman who tries overcoming her dark past and even wants to try having a relationship with a man despite everything she's been through. Unfortunately, the guy she is dating is not a good man for her. The abuse in a relationship is also a topic discussed in this movie.




Those are some of the sensitive, heavy topics discussed in this movie. Other topics like insecurities, sexual abuse, abusive relationship, and sex disorders won't be talked here because it will lead into a spoiler. But, this movie is a great movie. The writing, the pacing, the cinematography, I really like them all. The actors are doing a great job portraying their characters. I fell in love with Tori Matsuzaka because his acting is really great I sympathized with his character. Suzu Hirose is one of my favourite Japanese actresses, so no doubt that she wins a place in my heart in this movie too. When I watched this movie (which started in 11:40 P.M until 2:00 A.M lol), it feels like she's not Suzu; she is Sarasa. She is that great in portraying Sarasa. She embodies the character. Other actors and actresses are great as well. Ryusei Yokohama is success at making me hate his character, Ryo. And it means his acting is great. Mikako Tabe doesn't make many appearance in this movie, but she's great as well. In short, the acting is superb. The ending is an open one, based on your interpretation.



Once again, look for the trigger warnings if you want to watch this movie. But Wandering is such a great movie. This movie is not a type of movie that I can easily recommend to other people, but I liked this movie and I give it 3,8/5⭐️ have you watched this movie?




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