Fruits of Faith / Kiseki no Ringo

Abe Sadao grew up in Aomori as a child who loved disassembling things to see how they worked and wanted to work continue living in Tokyo until he had an omiai with old classmate Kanno Miho. Anyone would forget Tokyo to live as an apple farmer with Kanno Miho. Turns out that Kanno Miho has allergic reactions to pesticide used on the apple trees and Abe Sadao begins his quest to find a way to grow apples without pesticides.

WHAT I LIKED

- Abe Sadao and Kanno Miho. I'd watch anything with them on it.

- You can't really go wrong with the underdog story.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

- Despite Kiseki no Ringo being the closing movie of JFF2013, I had a feeling that it was going to be one of those by the numbers movies. The story beats, the dialogue, the challenges all seem so familiar and uninspired. They've taken an interesting story and 'Disneyfied' it turning it into a fairy tale.

Comparing this with The Great Passage, feels inspired while one feels overly manipulative with constant use of rising ochestral soundtrack. Both admittedly have perfect wives but The Great Passage is exciting because it shows you the mundane while Kiseki no Ringo is mundane because it tries too hard to make it exciting.

SUMMARY

A jmovie aiming for to be a feelgood movie the lowerst common denominator. Meh. I wouldn't have watched it if not for the Japanese subs cause the Aomori-ben is so thick.