(Jmovie Review) Fortuna’s Eye

Original Title: Forutuna no Hitomi (フォルトゥナの瞳)

Director: Takahiro Miki

Writer: Naoki Hyakuta (novel), Riko Sakaguchi

Producer: Yasushi Hashimoto, Tomoya Nishino

Cinematographer: Kosuke Yamada

Release date:  February 15, 2019

Runtime: 110 minutes

Genre: Romance, Fantasy

Distributor: Toho

Casts:

Ryunosuke Kamiki as Shinichiro Kiyama

Kasumi Arimura as Aoi Kiryu

Jun Shison as Daiki Kaneda

Yuki Saito as Mitsuko Endo

Saburo Tokito as Tetsuya Endo

I have always wanted to watch this movie as soon the trailer was released. Kamiki Ryunosuke in romance movie is a bit scarce to find 😁😁😁 even though, you know, Japanese would not spoil you with so many romantic scenes. And one more thing, the romance tag here doesn’t mean you will get a happy sweet romance drama.

Frankly speaking, watching this movie reminds me a bit of Final Destination and Harry Potter. How can that happen? I’ll tell you later. But, watch out for some upcoming spoilers 😄😄

The first scene of the movie showed that there was an airplane that got an accident left some survivors, including Shinichiro Kiyama. There, in the site where the accident happened, the young Kiyama witnessed many people dying from pain, asking for help, including Kiyama's parents. Years later, the adult Kiyama worked in a car wash (?). Growing up without parents seemed to make him a loner. He didn't make a lot of friends, didn't go out hanging around, all he did was dedicated his time for work. One day, he just realized that he gained an ability to see through people who were about to die.

What would you do if you could see through your loved one?

He was shocked as hell. He didn't know how and why he could get that ability. One thing for sure, his ability made him more reserved. His life was just spending his time working. He was offered for promotion that he didn't feel that he deserved it since there was a senior whom he thought would be good for the position. He seemed to avoid people's gaze when they talked to him. The ability of seeing people dying really gave him a trauma.

I want to see more of Kamiki in romance :D

Kasumi Arimura here and there 😄

One day, he went to a cellphone shop to fix his broken phone. There, he met an attractive young sales person, Aoi Kiryu. Aoi seemed to have the same feeling as Kiyama. They enjoyed happy days together like other couples did. But, one day, Kiyama could see through Aoi. And he could see through many people. He must do something. He didn't care even if he had to pay the price.

As I told you before that watching this movie gave me a mixed feeling between Final Destination movie and Harry Potter movie. Frankly, I didn't watch the whole movie of Final Destination. All I know that there was someone in the group had a premonition that he reminded his friends about what would happen in the future. Kiyama had the ability to see through people who were about to die. He could just sit still and see what happened. But to see someone you love was dying was indeed heart breaking.

Lovey dovey before the tragedy 😢

The  similarity is merely the premonition Kiyama had towards Aoi and other people around him. Warning them of what was coming was extremely futile. Instead, people would see him as a maniac. People would care less even Kiyama had to pay the price for letting them survive.

So, what's Harry Potter thing here? Remember the scene where Harry could see magical creatures Thestrs in Order of The Phoenix while Ron and Hermione couldn't? Harry could see the magical scene since he experienced nearly death or saw death when his parents were cursed to death by Voldemort. The ability of seeing magical creatures could only be shared with Luna Lovegood. The people who could feel and see what Kiyama could see  might be people who survived from the plane crash, years ago. Apparently, the survivors were not just Kiyama.

Thestral, the magical creature. If you could see this creature, that means....

Speaking about seeing death, I can say that it is not impossible. Once I learned about aura even though I couldn't see or feel aura. But some people say that healthy people have stable aura while sick people have thin aura around the place they feel painful. And when the aura gets thinning, I assume that the death is coming. The thing that Kiyama saw might be the aura of the dying people, regardless they are healthy or not. It's just a sign that death is coming. Well, it's just my assumption after all.

Honestly, I expected to see more of romance scenes just like what I saw in the trailer, Kiyama and Aoi spend happy time together, hug each other, but unfortunately, as typical Japanese movie, those scenes were like sweet tooth that would end up as toothache. Aaahhh, I'm using wrong metaphor here. Gomen. I know that in most dramas, protagonist is always kind, willing to sacrifice, but hurt the one(S) he/ she loves. That's why, I was ready for the ugly ending (not ugly truth) from the movie. It's heart breaking 💔

What would you do if you could see through of these innocent children? 😢😢

I never thought that Kamiki could play in a romance movie. So far, I watched him more on non romance ones, say Keiji Yugami, Bakuman, Rurouni Kenshin, March Goes Out Like a Lion, ect. The chemistry between Kiyama and Aoi, I guess, is fair enough since Kiyama was described as someone awkward, not good at talking to other people. Meanwhile, Kasumi as Aoi has opposite character since she is a sales person. Her approach to Kiyama didn't take much effort. Her cheerful character was deceitful at the end of the movie. That's why I mentioned about Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood (hope it's not a big spoiler).

Overall, I'd recommend this movie for those who want to see tragic romance. I'm sure there are many people out there who'd love to see tragedy in movies. This is my thing, too, but I'd love to see more of happy endings 😁😁😁

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