The acting, the beautiful signing. Matsuyuki is a force to be reckoned with in here. Her expressive eyes more than speak for her. The cinematography is simple and effective. The script is well written and more importantly, paced well.

Kokoro no Ito is a simple story. There is a deaf woman named Reiko who lives with her son Akihito in a small apartment. Though they live a humble life, the two are in sync and are simply used to living their lives the way that they have. Reiko works at a processing company gutting blowfish. Akihito is a high school student preparing for university exams. Reiko dreams of Akihito becoming a professional pianist and lovingly sews him a cover for his piano. As Akihito grows up, he becomes increasingly aware of how different his life is compared to other youths. He feels old and more like a parent than a child as he goes with his mother to meetings with the developers planning to tear down their neighborhood.

The communication between a mother and son transcends words. But as time passes, their thoughts change and their opposing opinions clash. Communication is lost and anger is sown and frustration spirals out of control.

Kokoro no Ito, or A Hearts’ Thread, perfectly illustrates the disintegration of Reiko and Akihito’s relationship while at the same time showing that broken things can be mended, that there is always a thread waiting to be connected to another heart.

Matsuyuki challenged Kamiki to find his role, to live his role, to become Akihito and I don’t know if I can confidently say that Kamiki gave the best Akihito he could. Every time Matsuyuki acted against Kamiki, I was hard pressed to stay impressed by Kamiki’s resume. That’s not to say that Kamiki gave a horrible performance. He didn’t. He acted his role well, but I don’t believe that he was able to reach that next step just yet. He tried and he failed. He was outshone by Matsuyuki’s Reiko.

I think that Kamiki has been riding high for most of his career. With Kokoro no Ito, I want to believe that Matsuyuki Reiko pushed him to remove himself from his comfort zone. She taught him a lesson by completely overpowering him with her acting to show him that there is a long road ahead of him, and it’s up to him to push forward. Also, Tanimura Mitsuki did a competent job as the go-between for Kamiki and Matsuyuki. Sorry. I don’t have much to say about her. She wasn’t bad but she also wasn’t exactly memorable. I do give her props for not backing down against Matsuyuki though.

Neatly wrapped up but not so much that it becomes diabetes-grade sugar inducing.