A Gentle Breeze in the Village (2007)

Set against the backdrop of Japan's scenic countryside, director Nobuhiro Yamashita's tale of adolescent love avoids the tear-jerking and virulent social commentary of many first-love stories in telling the tale of a rural schoolgirl smitten by a handsome new arrival from Tokyo. Soyo Migita (Kaho) is one of six students in her combined primary and junior school. A senior pupil who is currently in her second year of junior high, Soyo is the tallest girl in school and views her fellow students as an extended family. When Soyo's place at the top her class is challenged by the arrival of former city boy Hriomi Osawa (Masaki Okada), the starry eyed schoolgirl finds the butterflies in her stomach making her clumsy and vulnerable. There's no ignoring that strange new feeling beginning to grow in Soyo's heart, and as the call of first love and the onset of maturity becomes too powerful to resist, just the thought of holding hands with the likable new arrival is enough to make her blush. Based on Fusako Kuramochi's popular manga Tennen Kokekko, A Gentle Breeze in the Village was penned by screenwriter Aya Watanabe.—Jason Buchanan, Rovi