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Last Love, First Love

原題
最後の恋、初めての恋
Original Title
Saigo no Koi, Hajimete no Koi
Production Year
2003
Running Time
118min
Genre
Color
Color
Director
Cast
Atsuro WATABE
Xu Jinglei
Dong Jie

Time has stopped - until one love brought him back to life.

Introduction
"From the breathtaking city of Asia, Shanghai, comes a touching story about lovers who wish for eternal love."This is Shanghai, where "Old China" and "Super-high-tech-skyscrapers" reside side by side and produce an exotic charm. The Asian metropolis "Manhattan of Asia" is attracting talent, industry and media from all over the world in top speed. Hayase, who works for an automobile company, was betrayed by love and friendship.
Losing everything he had believed in, he is reluctantly appointed to Shanghai.
He is ignorant to anyone and anything around him, and to find joy in his life is the last thing he could ever dream of.
One day, as a result of an incident he caused, Hayase met two Chinese women --Min, who has a fatal disease and knowing the limit of her time left for her, and Lin, a university student, whose innocent heart is full of wonders.
The encounters with them somehow gradually open Hayase's heart..."Last love, First Love" tells us how intimate interactions can heal the wounded souls, and for us to believe in the magic of true love between two souls turnings immortal.
Synopsis
"Not being able to bear the sorrow, he sealed every emotions; His time had stopped since then." Shanghai, one of the few futuristic metropolis in this world, but at the same time, people are living in the valley between the super-high-tech skyscrapers. Takashi Hayase (Atsuro Watabe), who works for a Japanese automobile company, is appointed to a position in Shanghai branch.
He seems to have advanced his career quite successfully, but he has a dark shadow in his past. Six months ago, he was betrayed by love and friendship. His fiancee was killed in a car accident, in the car driven by his best friend. Since then, he has disconnected himself from others. At the welcome party, The Hayase's tacit condition makes his boss Mr. Onda (Ryo Ishibashi) worried. Hayase leaves the party alone and sinks into drinks at a bar. While walking back to the hotel, at the bridge, he throws away his watch that stopped clicking, as if he had wanted to throw himself away... "The first encounter was pathetic, and he did make a very bad first impression..." Hayase is already drunk when he arrives at the hotel.
A front clerk Fang Min (Xu Jinglei) notices his unusualness and is quite worried about him. When Hayase collapses in his room after having taken sleeping pills with liquor, Min is in front of his door- She brings his coat that left in the lobby-as Min senses something had happens inside the room, she immediately calls the ambulance. Lying on the stretcher, Hayase asks Min not to tell anybody about this incident. Min brings Hayase's suits to the hospital so he can go to the office without anybody noticing the happening. When he moves to his new corporate residence and opens his luggage, which Min packed, he finds the note attached to the pill bottle saying, "Please, do take care..." This is their first encounter."Min has a secret...Because of this secret, she has given up loving anyone..." Min wakes up at break of dawn. She is relieved to be able to feel the steady heartbeats within her. "I might not wake up tomorrow morning?c" She has been enduring the fear for death when she first knew her time is running out. After her mother passed away, the daily life with her father Xiangfu (Niu Ben) and her younger sister Lin (Dong Jie), has been her only emotional support. Min and Xiangfu do not tell Lin about Min's sickness for fear of making her depressed. Lin, bright and innocent, rides with Tohto, her childhood friend, 's motorcycle, to attend her class at university. Tohto, has always loved Lin, which she does not notice. "With the warm and loving Fang's family, the joy of eating, talking, laughing...and loving --- all come back to him." Onda lets Hayase take a Chinese language lesson at the university. Hayase attends the class reluctantly where Lin is waiting for him. Hayase asks her to cancel the class and to lie to Lin's professor and Onda that they have had their lessons which makes Lin furious at his attitude. When Hayase pauses at the doorway because of the pouring rain, he feels disgusted with his own behavior towards Lin's innocent enthusiasm. He then offers her his umbrella and apologizes to her sincerely. Lin is soon back to her good mood again and excitedly tells her family and Tohto that she has fallen in love with Hayase at first sight. Hoping to get close to Hayase, she even invites Hayase to her house for their lesson. That day, Min bumps into Hayase in front of her house. It is when she finds out that he is the student Lin has been talking about. Amidst the Fangs' homely and amiable atmosphere, at the table full of delicious Chinese dishes cooked by Min, Hayase suddenly finds out that meal can be so enjoyable--the first time in a long while.
"I want to see her. -- My time has started moving once again when I'm with her." "I cannot see him. -- My time is ending..." Min comes across Hayase and learns that he did try to kill himself that night they met. She becomes indignant and asks him, "to live wishing for death and to die wishing for life... which is painful?" Hayase neglects his job and everything and does not care about anything. But he feels ashamed only towards Min. At first, they struggle hard not to step forward as they have secrets kept within them. However, as if they have found what they are unconsciously looking for in each other, Hayase and Min gets closer and closer. Feeling his heart in contentment, Hayase, who threw away his watch at the night he arrived at Shanghai, buys himself a new watch one day. His time starts to move again.
One day, Hayase invites Min to a concert. Though Min is delighted to feel Hayase's love towards her, she hesitates to accept it, knowing her sister Lin's feelings for him. Her father Xiangfu, who understands the whole situation, supports and encourages her. Min makes up her mind and rushes to the concert hall. The moment when Hayase emotionally hugs Min, Lin shows up while looking for them. Lin cannot accept the truth. She becomes hysteric and runs away. Hayase and Min chase after her but it is then when Min suddenly collapses on the sidewalk... Lying on the bed in the hospital, she tells Hayase that they should not see each other anymore, as he knows her secret.

Will this be the last love for Min? Will their love find a place in peace? The story moves towards a heart-clenching ending...