Haunting Love
Japanse title: 寝ても覚めても (Netemo Sametemo), meaning Whether you are awake or asleep
English title: Asako I&II
Length: 1h 59m
Genre: Drama, Romance
*spoiler alert*
Before proceeding with my review, I highly recommend you guys watch the movie first (if you haven’t), as well as this trailer to get “in the mood”.
One of the things that greatly contributes to my liking Asako I&II is its trailer song, which is the Japanese version, 激しく (Hageshiku) of a French song named À la Folie (meaning Madly) by Juliette Armanet. The song accurately depicts the story as well as leaving an everlasting impression on the viewers.
I hope everyone can be critical of the movie. Even when the extramarital affair of the main cast wreaked havoc on its reputation, Asako I&II still remains a beautifully made and relevant piece of art. Keep in mind that I didn't have any prior knowledge of Masahiro’s being married to Anne when I watched the movie.
From what I’ve seen, Masahiro was much in love with Erika (…both on-screen and off-screen). They had great chemistry. Their expressions and behaviors closely resembled those who are deeply in love. I was impressed by their performances, especially Masahiro’s. I highly doubt that he can put on such an act purely because he’s good at acting. I believe his feelings for Erika were genuine and ardent. Besides, Japanese actors and actresses are still in essence Japanese, who are relatively inexpressive in regards to their manners and emotions. Because they lack the natural reaction of the more expressive people, Japanese dramas and movies can be a little overreacted and … cringeworthy sometimes.
Although the story follows a threadbare template of many Shoujo manga: one girl two boys triangle love, there are many Cannes-worthy elements to it.
The movie begins with a chance encounter of the heroine, Asako with the eccentric Baku. Asako is sweet and naive yet impulsive, making her much more complicated than her girl-next-door look. The moment she and Baku locked eyes, she immediately fell in love and the next thing you know they were kissing. It was obviously a recipe for disaster, but Asako blindly persisted on her feelings for Baku, regardless of her friend Haruyo’s warning that “he will make you cry.” And he did. He disappeared for 7 years like any toxic narcissist with an urge to pursue freedom would.
At this point, it was quite clear how Baku felt about their relationship. Many argued about his feelings for her. I think Baku does and doesn’t love Asako. Subconsciously, he does. If not, a free spirit like him wouldn’t get involved with someone so dependent in the first place. Still, his conscious mind had already made another choice. Based on the way Baku was portrayed, his exit was understandable.
Two years after Baku’s disappearance must have been hell for Asako. Being heartbroken should be a scene kept hidden. The movie completely cut off this phase and moved forward to when Asako met Ryouhei. Apart from their uncanny resemblance, Ryouhei and Baku are nothing alike. On one end, we have the enigmatic, nonchalant Baku and on the other, we have the amiable and gregarious Ryouhei, whose genuine affection gradually won Asako over.
I guess when Asako consented to enter a relationship with Ryouhei, she truly wanted to get over Baku. Her initial avoidance stemmed from her objection to use “Baku’s identical twin” as a painkiller. But when the 2011 Double Disasters hit Tokyo, she realized she doesn’t want to lose Ryouhei — someone who is so loving towards her. The painful hope of seeing Baku which had been preying on her mind all those years had diminished itself. She knew she needed to move on. They say people should stay with someone who loves them rather than chasing someone they love. As far as that is concerned, marriage and love life should be calculated, so Asako was not using Ryouhei, she was thinking about her future happiness. And she was truly happy with him…until the movie needs its climax.
After incidentally ran into Asako, Haruyo gave a brief comment on how inattentive Asako had been to the world around her. She didn’t even bother to notice the gigantic billboard of her ex-lover (which was an absurd plot hole). This points out that the time skip was missing from Asako as well. In her heart, Asako had never moved on. She was still that same naive, lovesick girl.
The story built up two contrasting men with the same appearance, both are significant to Asako in order to represent the internal struggle of her two polarized personalities. Baku and Ryouhei are external representations of Asako’s inner psyche. She can be sweet, naive, and loving like Ryouhei but this side of her will always yearn for Baku — someone she can be so similar to when she was with Ryouhei, dreamy, and elusive.
I feel like I’m dreaming right now.
No.
Everything up until now feels more like a long dream.
It was a really happy dream.
I felt like I’d matured.
But now I’m awake,
and I…
haven’t changed at all.
The internal battle of the superego and the id had let Asako make a conscious decision to stay with Ryouhei. She was deeply but consciously moved by his love, commitment, and tolerance, yet all of that seemed meaningless when Baku offered his hand. She thought that she was strong enough to confront Baku after all those years, so she made a move: briskly walked towards his car and waved goodbye. She would never have guessed his audacity to come to her house. This pushed her heart to the limit until it crumbled and succumbed to his temptation again. Asako loves Baku in the most vehement and romantic sense of the word. He is everything she ever wanted, his wildness, his ethereal insouciance, and the fact he will never be hers. The song À la folie is to depict this burning and hopeless desire of her.
Aunt Eiko once told a story of her younger self traveling all the way to Tokyo just to have breakfast with her lover, who turned out not to be Okazaki’s father. If humans are fortunate, our first true love is the one we commit to. But as we know life is not likewise for many. We go through life, beaten and heart-broken in order to manage our expectations from romance. Love, not Eros but Philia, can be calm and peaceful. Asako loves Ryouhei in the most intimate sense of the word. If only she could have realized it before running off with Baku. If only she could have been mature enough to know how great and profound a grounded love is compared to an up-in-the-air obsession.
Erika is Masahiro’s Baku. He was not able to resist her. Even when his entire career was jeopardized, he took one heck of a pause and even refused to voice his true feelings because it “might hurt” Anne. His reaction was painful to watch.
There is this joke in Vietnam: “Người đàng hoàng thì…ngoại tình một cách đàng hoàng.” (meaning A proper person will…cheat properly). It aches me how accurately it depicts Masahiro’s situation. This whole mess doesn’t happen by accident but it wasn’t an elaborate scheme either. Affairs like this start with little choices, little resentment with the spouse, little distance growing between the two until it accumulates into one big horrible mistake. By nature, this incident is completely different from the kind where sex is the sole purpose like Watabe Ken’s infidelity scandal.
There had been endless discussion of whether Masahiro or Ken is the worse. Some agree it should be Masahiro since he had and intentionally tried to hide his elsewhere commitment while Ken is just a pervert finding a way to satisfy his biological needs (with 182 people!?). Either a good guy making and hiding his mistake or a bad guy being true to himself is just as bad. They had both caused great pain to their spouses. As for Erika, if she still has a guilty conscience about her doing, she had already paid her dues when she stepped into Masahiro and Anne's marriage.
I don’t blame Masahiro and Erika for their feelings towards one another. We usually don’t get to decide what the heart wants. Their love has no fault but their action does. The nature of affairs is selfishness coupled with recklessness. I hope that my solace for the cheaters will not alarm any of my readers. I do pity their situation if what between them is genuine. Love really doesn’t happen the way we want it, but at least have the gut to free the cheated or else buried such love for the sake of others.
It’s quite impossible now for Masahiro to make things right, especially when he left every decision to Anne. But maybe for Asako, there would still be hope. Her realization came a little late but at least she had one. Because this is a movie so the epiphany came a little too soon, making it “comical and unrealistic”. In reality, I think her affair with Baku would have taken a few months, even years before she realized it was a mistake, but by then, like Masahiro, there’s no way of saving the situation.
I really like the detail where Asako asked both the guys: “Did we got off the highway?” The same question but Baku’s unreasonable answer clearly indicates his immaturity. At that moment, Asako was awakened to the fact that Baku hadn’t changed, he would one day leave her to find his freedom again. Whereas, she was not the same naive Asako who impulsively followed Baku around anymore. She had experienced every up and down of love with someone who truly cares for her. Baku was now just a mere memory. She had left behind something so precious and real to chase a dream she wanted no more. It was quite obvious what a person with such impetuous nature as Asako would do to retrieve Ryouhei’s heart.
Trust once lost can hardly be reclaimed. Ryouhei and Anne will forever be haunted by the pain of being betrayed. Ryouhei would felt that he’s never good enough no matter what he had done. His love for Asako had been tainted with distrust and hatred. Both he and Anne will suffer between the tenderness their hearts can still feel and the memory of betrayal. It's easy to say that there will be someone out there for them. Even if there are, their hearts would be too tired to bear any more possibility.
In the end, the decision to stay or leave a relationship as such is not something outsiders should interfere with. It is a matter that two people must work out together. Anne had made her choice. I really hope she will be able to find peace and balance within herself. I truly do. And as for Ryouhei… his choice remains a secret to us.
