Drawing Closer Review: Your Next Weeping Fest Is Here
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“And so, the boy who was afraid to die, met the girl who was looking forward to it.”
The 2024 Japanese drama “Drawing Closer” is about a 17-year-old with only one year left to live befriending a girl with even less time on earth. I wondered if I really wanted to see another sad film about two teens with life-threatening health problems falling in love with each other. “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Five Feet Apart” seemed enough. But it was a gloomy, rainy day, and a depressing tear-jerker sounded like a good idea. Was I a weeping mess through the runtime? Yes. Absolutely. Even though I kept cynically hoping at least one death in the tale would come sooner rather than later. Tsk. Tsk.
Directed by Takahiro Miko, “Drawing Closer” is based on the Japanese novel “Yomei Ichinen to Senkoku Sareta Boku ga, Yomei Hantoshi no Kimi to Deatta Hanashi.” It opens with the sight of a beautiful clear blue sky, only to turn to a young boy standing on a terrace, contemplating jumping off. The boy is high-school student Akihito Hayasaka (Ren Nagase), a brilliant budding artist whose zest for life is cut short when he is diagnosed with a rare heart condition and the doctors say he might have only a year to live. Fortunately, he is distracted by a sound, leading him to Haruna Sakurai (Natsuki Deguchi), a teen girl who is drawing something in a sketchbook on the same hospital terrace. Haruna reveals she has six months to live with a smile, claiming she is looking forward to dying as she hopes for a better afterlife. Inspired by her positive approach, Akihito starts visiting Haruna regularly at the hospital, and the two become close friends. However, Akihito chooses to hide his heart condition from her.
Natsuki Deguchi is immediately endearing as the cheery Haruna Sakurai, a dying girl who loves to escape her reality by drawing in her sketchbook. On the other hand, Akihito Hayasaka stops painting after his diagnosis, choosing to dwell on the futility of a life that’s on a one-year deadline. The title “Drawing Closer” is thus both metaphorical and literal for the leads, as the two bond over their love for art and drawing. Mayu Yokota plays Ayaka Miura, a feisty popular girl at school who also happens to be an estranged childhood friend of Haruna. In a heartwarming subplot, Akihito attempts to orchestrate an emotional reunion between the former friends.
Because of the leads’ health conditions, there are plenty of health scares in the 2-hour runtime. Apart from the hospital scenes, the writers ensure they put in as many sad twists as they can to make viewers cry buckets of tears. At one point, the unfortunate events get too soppy, and I honestly just wanted the characters to catch a break and have some fun. Thankfully, they do. Besides, despite the dominant gloomy themes in “Drawing Closer”, the cinematography is consistently bright, colorful, with shades that lends a hopeful tone to the tale. Even Haruna’s hospital room doesn’t give off a macabre, clinical death-like vibe, instead, she makes the room her own by hanging up pictures all over.
Apart from the budding friendship/romance between the two teens, it was refreshing to see both kids having a loving and supportive family. Akihito Hayasaka’s parents actively encourage his pursuit of art and are heartbroken when he refuses to take part in a prestigious competition he had been looking forward to. The plot doesn’t break any new ground as far as movies about terminally ill people go, but it’s a stormy emotional journey that’s backed up by a talented cast of actors. Ren Nagase is stoically resilient as Akihito, who at first loses his will to live but keeps learning new lessons from the hopeful Haruna about appreciating every day he has. The two latch onto each other’s friendship to see through the next day, becoming a beacon in each other’s lives.
In the end, “Drawing Closer” comes to a close with several melancholic events, but it’s the little moments of joy the protagonists are able to snatch together that make it worth a watch. Definitely check it out if you enjoy a good tearjerker.
Watch “Drawing Closer” on Netflix.
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