Stereo Future (NR) 2001

Run Time: 111min
Director: Hiroyuki Nakano
DVD Release: 2004

Director Hiroyuki Nakano blends four overlapping stories into a well crafted romantic comedy entangling the lives of two young lovers and the people who touch their world. Masatoshi Nagase plays Keisuke, a struggling actor trying to find a big break beyond his current bit parts in bad Samurai send ups. He thinks he's found his big break when an actress hand picks him to be the hero for her latest movie. Meanwhile, Eri Momosaki (played by Akiko Monou), Keisuke's ex-girlfriend, has stopped speaking after their breakup in silent protest of what she knows in her heart is a mistake. Both Eri and Keisuke individually encounter what seems to be something better than what they had together, Keisuke with the actress and Eri with a tree-hugging lecturer from the U.S. Many overlapping subplots piece their lives together in a crisscrossed mesh of interpersonal relationships. Like many of Hollywood's finest comedic romances, Stereo Future is a search for meaning and love in a world where it's easy to forget you already have them. The movie is Japanese, with English subtitles.