1st Kiss 　 – Japan Screen Hub

🎬 Title: 1st Kiss (ファーストキス)Release Year: TBD / Director: Yuji Sakamoto / Runtime: TBD

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (My Rating: 4/5)

📝 Synopsis

First Kiss traces the fragile spark between two people whose lives intersect at an unexpected moment. What begins as a light encounter gradually opens into a tender, clear-eyed portrait of timing, choice, and the small acts that alter a future.

🌟 Highlights

Nuanced dialogue that balances humor with emotional precision
Performances that convey vulnerability through glances and silence
A restrained visual style that lets gestures carry the weight of feeling

🌑 Lowlights

Deliberate pacing may feel slow for viewers expecting plot-driven turns
Some context-specific references can be opaque to international audiences

🇯🇵 Cultural Footnotes

The film leans on ma (間)—meaningful pauses and negative space—letting silence speak louder than words.
Themes of chance and everyday ritual echo Japanese urban romance traditions, where timing and social etiquette shape intimacy.
The title’s focus on a “first kiss” evokes mono no aware—the beauty (and ache) of fleeting moments.

💭 Review

Rather than chasing melodrama, Sakamoto builds intimacy through accumulated detail: a hesitation at a crosswalk, a half-finished sentence, a shared joke that lingers. The result is a romance that feels lived-in, not mythic. When emotions crest, they arrive without fanfare—earned by careful writing and performances attuned to subtext. If the narrative resists big twists, it rewards patient viewers with a resonance that lasts beyond the credits.

⭐ Verdict

Quietly disarming and emotionally precise, First Kiss captures how a single moment can redraw the map of two ordinary lives. Tender, modern, and beautifully observed.

🎥 Credits

Cast: Takako Matsu　Hokuto Matsumura
Director / Screenplay: Yuji Sakamoto