Kindan No Koi 禁断の恋 (2007)

The popular movie, Kindan No Koi, is a fairly new movie released two years ago in the cinemas. It is moderately popular, although its audience reach is not as wide as other similar movies like Summer Vacation. Kindan No Koi translates to ‘Forbidden Fruit’ or ‘Forbidden Love’, so we kind of get a perspective on what the story is all about.

The story revolves between two characters, Ritsu and Sho. Ritsu is a fashion designer who took his fashion studies in New York. He comes back to Japan, where his new boss asked him to move in with his son Sho. His boss was worried about his son developing a habit of staying in his bedroom all day and night. Unknown to the boss (or Sho’s dad), the two have a romantic past. In fact, we see in a flashback scene at a lake that Sho was begging him not to leave to go to New York.

So Ritsu, Sho, and Sho’s little brother share the same apartment. The ‘little brother’ also works for the boss and is also in love with Sho but Sho does not reciprocate his love. When he finds out that Ritsu will be staying as well, he isn’t too happy and tries to seduce Ritsu away.

Ritsu tries his best to reconnect with Sho but resists it. Ritsu is confused, but then founds out the reason why Sho is so angry—the little brother gave Sho a picture of Ritsu and his dad embracing passionately. As it turns out, this is a fake picture, produced by Photoshop. Ritsu convinces him that it’s a fake. They finally reconnect, and while all is well, ‘little brother’ is not pleased with the reconciliation. He retaliates by showing the boss that Ritsu and Sho are sleeping together. The boss is enraged, throws Ritsu out.

Little brother is a manipulative and obsessed in getting Sho’s love. We find out that he is behind all this, even causing Sho’s depression so he can take care and have him all to himself. He reveals his love once again, only to be rejected by Sho. Little brother is angry and murders Sho in order they can be in bed together and Sho will never leave him forever. The movie ends with Ritsu finally finishing a shirt he made for Sho and wondering how he will give it to his lover. I wonder what he will feel when he finds out…

The story revolves inside the apartment for most of the story. The three characters have affected me in their own ways, little brother standing out the most.

Kindan No Koi is in the Japanese language, although DVD copies today have English subtitles. It is directed by Kusano Yoka and stars Mikami Masashi and Kato Ryosuke. The movie was opened to cinemas on January 25, 2008.