This moving Japanese drama shamelessly plays every emotional trick telling the story of gentle soul Tokue who at seventy-something years of age is an unlikely candidate for the kitchenhand position in Sentaro's struggling dorayaki shop - she goofily waves at trees, narrates the poetic letters she writes as montages of cherry blossoms play on screen, reinvigorates a remote teen, and it all starts to feel like a community service announcement once the truth of her situation is revealed and the success she has brought the business starts to falter, but with a movie as pure-hearted as this, you can't gripe - just let the tears flow!
★★★★☆
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