Kenta (TAMAYAMA Tetsuji), a just fired pianist, finds himself at a bookstore in Heaven after he was dead drunk out of desperation in a tavern last night.
He's not dead. The bookstore has hired him for a short-term job, and he can go back to the earth after the working period. Most of the other habitants in Heaven have already ended their life on the earth and are preparing for their next life back on the earth. Since every human being has a life of just one hundred years, they live in Heaven for the rest of their life after they die on the earth. If you are dead at seventy, you live for thirty years in Heaven and start a new life on the earth as completely another person -- you have no memory about the previous life. If you live on the earth for a hundred years or more, you immediately reincarnate without going to Heaven.
Soon, Kenta knows Heaven is not like he imagined before and not much different from the earth. It has towns, streets, stores, parks, vehicles, and anything which exists on the earth. He meets a beautiful woman named Sho^ko (TAKEUCHI Yu^ko). She has a grand piano in her cottage and that reminds him that he met her on the earth when he was a boy. She was a gifted pianist and inspired him to make himself a pianist. She tells him she has not played the piano since she lost her one ear's hearing by an accident and has occasional pains in the ear.
At the same time on the earth, Sho^ko's niece, Kanako (Takeuchi, in a double role) is making efforts to restore the town's annual summer fireworks display after more than ten years' interruption. She and her pals especially want to revive its highlight program, "The Loving Fireworks". It is said couples will unite forever if they watch the firework. But Kanako and her pals face a big problem. There is the only man who can make the firework and he quit the job more than ten years ago. She finds and meets the fireworks maker but he tells her he has no intention to make "The Loving Fireworks" or any other fireworks. She gets to know the reason. When he invited his girlfriend to his workshop, he caused an accidental explosion and it robbed her of the one ear's hearing and her music life as a pianist.
This film has two stories in Heaven and on the earth which go on at the same time. When and how will the two meet? And What will happen when they meet?
(7 out of 10)
He's not dead. The bookstore has hired him for a short-term job, and he can go back to the earth after the working period. Most of the other habitants in Heaven have already ended their life on the earth and are preparing for their next life back on the earth. Since every human being has a life of just one hundred years, they live in Heaven for the rest of their life after they die on the earth. If you are dead at seventy, you live for thirty years in Heaven and start a new life on the earth as completely another person -- you have no memory about the previous life. If you live on the earth for a hundred years or more, you immediately reincarnate without going to Heaven.
Soon, Kenta knows Heaven is not like he imagined before and not much different from the earth. It has towns, streets, stores, parks, vehicles, and anything which exists on the earth. He meets a beautiful woman named Sho^ko (TAKEUCHI Yu^ko). She has a grand piano in her cottage and that reminds him that he met her on the earth when he was a boy. She was a gifted pianist and inspired him to make himself a pianist. She tells him she has not played the piano since she lost her one ear's hearing by an accident and has occasional pains in the ear.
At the same time on the earth, Sho^ko's niece, Kanako (Takeuchi, in a double role) is making efforts to restore the town's annual summer fireworks display after more than ten years' interruption. She and her pals especially want to revive its highlight program, "The Loving Fireworks". It is said couples will unite forever if they watch the firework. But Kanako and her pals face a big problem. There is the only man who can make the firework and he quit the job more than ten years ago. She finds and meets the fireworks maker but he tells her he has no intention to make "The Loving Fireworks" or any other fireworks. She gets to know the reason. When he invited his girlfriend to his workshop, he caused an accidental explosion and it robbed her of the one ear's hearing and her music life as a pianist.
This film has two stories in Heaven and on the earth which go on at the same time. When and how will the two meet? And What will happen when they meet?
(7 out of 10)
- USHIRO Satoshi
