1 Litre of Tears review
This Japanese film is truly beautiful and tragic. It's based on a true story.
Aya Kitō was fifteen when she was diagnosed with a degenerative disease known as spinocerebellar ataxia. I looked it up online and tried to find out more about it. From the description, it's a disease that attacks nerve tissue, mainly in the cerebellum, which controls movement and balance. Sometimes it's also mentioned alongside Friedreich's ataxia. There's no cure, but rehabilitation can slow its progress a little.
Aya had her whole life ahead of her. First love, a wedding, children... Her illness took all of that from her, and she died at the age of 25.
The screenplay is based on the diary Aya kept for as long as she could hold a pen. It was also published as a book with the same title and sold over 1.1 million copies in Japan.
Original title Ichi ritoru no namida
English title 1 Litre of Tears
Country Japan, 2005
Genre school, tragedy, slice of life
Directed by Riki Okamura
Czech subtitles Yes
Where can you watch or download the film?
On ulozto.cz you can find the film with Czech subtitles under the title Ichi ritoru no namida. Apart from that, I couldn't find it anywhere except YouTube (in rather poor quality and in English). Not even on KissAsian.sh, which only has the TV series of the same name, and in my view the series is heavily embellished by the creators' imagination. The series with Czech subtitles can also be downloaded on ulozto.cz.
Cast
Asae Ohnishi as Aya Ikeuchi
Kazuko Katô as Aya's mother
What is it about? Contains spoilers!
One day, on her way to school, Aya has a nasty fall and hurts her chin. That's when her mother realises something isn't right with her.
She persuades Aya to go to the hospital with her, where a doctor examines her and finds out that Aya suffers from spinocerebellar ataxia, a hereditary, incurable and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. A person who has it gradually loses the ability to control their movements as the cerebellum and nervous system degenerate.
At first Aya isn't told about her illness and is led to believe it's some minor neurological disorder. The doctor, however, recommends that she start keeping a diary, which should help her sort out her thoughts and see clearly which doubts and fears are troubling her.
As her condition gets worse, it becomes clear even to her that this is no minor disorder like she was told. But even after the full extent of the illness is revealed to her, she doesn't give up. She keeps writing her diary.
The whole film follows how her illness starts with problems with coordination, walking and balance, and over a few years turns into a complete loss of the ability to speak and swallow, until she can't move at all and stays bedridden until she dies.
The film shows how Aya came to terms with her illness, how her classmates saw it and how she motivated her family. It shows how she fought, what she felt along the way and how she tried to live to the fullest despite her growing limitations.
It's important to realise that despite the gradual loss of control over her body, Aya stayed just as intelligent and fully aware. The disease doesn't affect the brain on a mental level.
After her first symptoms, Aya lived another 10 years before the illness defeated her.
My verdict
I liked the film as such, because I love dramas. But of course, nowadays a film from 2005 won't impress many people. At least that's what I gather from the reactions of people around me. It takes place in an ordinary Japanese home with an ordinary Japanese family. The characters had a clearly set fate and didn't develop much, they rather tried to make the most of the situation they were in.
Aya was a normal, happy Japanese girl who started falling more often and having trouble with movement, as we already know from the description above. Our heroine has moments when things aren't easy for her, but she comes across as a strong moral leader.
I can't really judge the acting, because Japanese cinema isn't really my thing. I mostly watch Chinese and South Korean productions, or Thai ones.
But I have to admit that Asae Ohnishi handled this role very well. She managed to draw me into the story and made me believe her. The same can't really be said about Aya in the TV series. Erika Sawajiri is pretty, but somehow I missed Aya's strength and her will to live and fight. At times it felt like she was simply trying to survive the series.
Some would say it's a film that plays on your emotions, but you have to realise that this is reality. Her situation simply stirs up emotions, whether we like it or not. If films like this bother you, it's better not to watch them, but in my opinion 1 Litre of Tears has something to give.
Overall score 8/10
You might also like
Mimosa Confiante
By day, I work somewhere between marketing, copy and campaigns; by night, I usually end up somewhere between fanfiction, cosplay and yet another “what if” that refuses to leave me alone. I write mainly in the Harry Potter and Mo Dao Zu Shi fandoms, most often Snarry, Snamione, HarryLu and WangXian. My healthcare background means that anatomy, medicine and far too much research occasionally find their way into my stories. Cosplay is another way for me to play with the characters I love, whether I stay close to canon or turn them into my own fanfiction and AU versions. In Diary of a Slytherin Girl with ADHD, I write openly about life with a brain that usually has far too many tabs open at once.
📖 More stories on AO3 and Wattpad · 📸 Instagram · 🎥 TikTok · 👉 More about me
