Love And Fortune Review: Artful Direction And Cinematography Makes This Drama Worth Watching

I picked ‘Love and Fortune’ because I found the synopsis very interesting. I wanted to know how, just how can a 32-year-old woman fall in love with a 15-year old boy. The first thought that came to my mind was something similar to the meme below.

 

Personally, I have no problem with an older woman-younger man love story. But the fact that the boy in this drama is underage and not even 18-years old felt a little cringy initially. I read somewhere that in Japan the age of consent is 13-years. But still. Anyway, once I was into the drama I forgot all about the age gap because all that unfolded before me was direction genius. If you just ignore the age gap here, there is a lot to like about this drama which I will tell you in detail below.  

Love And Fortune/ Koi no Tsuki (2018) (12 Episodes)

Wako Taira (Tokunaga Eri) is a 31-year-old woman living with her boyfriend Fuuta Aoi (Watanabe Daichi) for the past three years. After being together for so long Taira wishes to get married to Fuuta but he is too lazy to ask her formally. Stuck in a part-time job Taira feels bored in her mundane life. One day she sees Yumeaki Iko (Kamio Fuju) at the theatre she works in and is instantly drawn to him. She withholds his student ID that he forgets in the cinema hall only to be able to talk to him. When he returns to the cinema hall looking for his ID she manages to get his phone number and offers him tickets to a special screening of his favorite director’s movie. They connect over their love for films and as time passes she acts upon her feelings for him and leads them both into a scandalous affair.

Let’s weigh this torrid love affair on our drama beam balance and see if this forbidden (by general standards) romance is worth a watch or no.

Good Weights

I enjoyed watching ‘Love And Fortune’ because…

…the writing, direction, and cinematography were overwhelmingly impressive. If you see the scenes in the drama, you will notice a lot of symbolism in it. For instance, the oscillating table fan that Tairi and Fuuta purchased the day they moved in together often gets stuck and Fuuta’s troubleshooting idea is to smack it hard so it starts working again. It basically shows how Fuuta makes do with whatever he has in life just like his relationship with Taira. He is okay with the lack of love between them while Tairi is not. Tairi’s search for something exciting and different in life is depicted by her obsession with playing the coin game hoping to find a rare figurine. And the day she does find it is the day she meets Iko.

The director often shows scenes shot from two angles in a divided frame so you see how the two characters are reacting to the same situation. Similarly, the cinematographer has made such beautiful use of soft and hard lighting that it adds to the overall broody theme of the drama.

…I could totally relate to Taira’s confusion, pain, and dilemma. Hitting your 30s as a single woman is like an open invitation for every person around you to remind you of your biological clock that is ticking. I have just hit my 30s and am not exaggerating when I say any person I meet only has one question for me i.e. ‘When are you getting married?’ The same happens with Taira. Her friends and relatives pester her with the same question all the time.

The only difference here is that Taira has a boyfriend. But he is no good either because he has settled in their regular life and sees no point in proposing when they are living like a married couple anyway.

Taira is aware of the fact that getting pregnant in 30s can be difficult but she does not want to push Fuuta to propose and instead pretends to be content with the way things are going. She is unhappy with Fuuta’s lack of ambition and enthusiasm for life but then stays back because she feels finding a guy at this age would be too troublesome for her.

This is so true. When women lack confidence they tend to settle and compromise without realizing their full potential. She knows there are a lot of problems between Fuuta and her but she is okay with it because she was once betrayed by her ex-boyfriend after which she met Fuuta who promised to love her forever. So, since he asked her out she started believing she cannot find someone better. And she drags the relationship despite knowing that there is no love or happiness in it.

… the writer’s depiction of Taira’s predicament was too apropos. When Taira first starts making a move on Iko she is ridden with guilt to the core so she tries to overcome it by becoming more loving toward her boyfriend Fuuta. Which is so like married men who become more loving to their wives when they start cheating on them. She promises herself to not think of Iko and even imagines him to be a monkey so he stops looking attractive to her. But every attempt fails. This fight with your inner self over right and wrong is what we all face for different reasons, isn’t it?

  

…even though Taira leaves her boyfriend Fuuta hoping to have a better life with Iko life does not become unrealistically easy for her. Taira does not have a proper job and often struggles to make ends meet. In all this, Iko is too young to start earning and lives a carefree life off his allowance. Iko’s young and comfortable life frustrates her and she takes it out on him. But it is never really about him. It is she who is lacking and hence the outburst.

It’s not that she wants to be younger but she surely wants to escape from this tough life and she does that when she is with Iko. The initial days of any new relationship are known as the ‘honeymoon phase’ and since her life is so tumultuous, being in love with Iko temporarily makes her forget her problems and smile for a bit. Yes, his age is clearly an issue but for Taira, Iko is her only way to escape her messy life and so she grabs this chance with both hands despite being aware of how disastrous this affair can be. Iko brings freshness, hope, and motivation in her life and so she overlooks everything else and starts her affair with him.    

Bad Weights

I did NOT LIKE ‘Love And Fortune’ because…

…dating a younger man is not a problem but being underage is. I wish Iko was shown to be a little older like 19-years old or so it would have been still better. 15-years is too much to digest. It almost feels like Taira is taking advantage of the little boy even though it may not look like that in the drama. There is one scene where she goes down on him and he’s shown to be in too much pain. C’mon, that boy is really young you should not be exposing him to something like this. I know love has no age but intimacy does. Iko is a growing boy and you can’t just make him do whatever you want just because you supposedly ‘love’ him. Sorry! But Iko and Taira’s love scenes were too painful to watch.   

 

The drama beam balance is filled with good weights which means I liked the drama for almost everything that it offers.

I give ‘Love And Fortune’ 3.5 out of 5 rating. If bold dramas make you uncomfortable, then you can skip this one. But if you want to watch a bold and beautifully shot and narrated drama, then you’ve got to catch this show. In fact, I say never mind the bold scenes just watch it for its skillful direction and cinematography. It has only 12 episodes and each episode is only 24 minutes. Do give it a try. 

 

Screenshots and Feature Image Courtesy: Netflix.com

 

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