‘Drawing Closer’: Love’s Gentle Rebuttal to Distancing

Haruna Sakurai (Natsuki Deguchi) and Akito Hayasaka (Ren Nagase) are two young people with terminal illnesses, in “Drawing Closer.” Netflix

TV-14 | 1h 58min | Romance | 2024

Screenwriter-director Takahiro Miki’s romance set in Japan is based on Aoi Morita’s novel and aimed at a late-teen and young adult audience.

Two 17-year-olds meet by chance. They’re strangers from different high schools, each separately diagnosed with a terminal disease. Akito Hayasaka (Ren Nagase) has a year to live, and Haruna Sakurai (Natsuki Deguchi) has half that time. He knows that her life’s on the clock, but she doesn’t know that his is, too. Both are art enthusiasts; they chat about art, drawing closer over what it means to them.

Haruna Sakurai (Natsuki Deguchi) finds love and caring in her final hours, in “Drawing Closer.” Netflix

Living With Illness

Akito lives with his father, mother, and younger sister. Drowning in self-pity, he distances himself from them and his schoolmates. Haruna’s fragility demands hospitalization; thankfully, her widowed mother, Hazuki Sakurai (Yasuko Matsuyuki), is a chief nurse. Akito resolves to make Haruna’s remaining days joyous, visiting regularly with bouquets handpicked by a thoughtful florist nearby. Thankful, Haruna draws pictures of those flowers to brighten otherwise dull days.

Then, Akito realizes that he isn’t the only one distancing himself from those who love him because he doesn’t want to be a “burden.” Haruna’s estranged from her childhood friend Ayaka Miura (Mayu Yokota). For years, Ayaka gave up playing with active, outdoor-bound children to be with her homebound, lonely friend. Then Haruna invented a quarrel because she didn’t want the doting Ayaka to stay stuck with her, a sickly best friend. Bitter, Ayaka broke away. When Akito hears of this, he tracks Ayaka down and reunites the long-lost friends. As time runs out for Akito and Haruna, they understand that disease or not, drawing closer beats distancing. 

Haruna Sakurai (Natsuki Deguchi) and Akito Hayasaka (Ren Nagase), in “Drawing Closer.” Netflix

Miki takes too long to tell his story. He doesn’t flesh out his supporting characters: the lovebirds’ families, friends, and the obviously caring doctors and nurses. It’s like they’re in black and white. They’re shaded out of an otherwise colorful drawing that features only Akito, Ayaka, and Haruna, who live as if in a bubble. Perhaps Miki wanted to simulate how unreal the world can feel if suffering sparks selfishness. Selfishness can also exacerbate otherwise bearable suffering.  

Nagase, Deguchi, and Yokota endearingly sport martyr complexes, convincingly depicting the awkwardness of making new friendships or reviving old ones. But with limited screen time and few lines, Matsuyuki stands out. She’s torn between care for her suffering patient and love for her child who wants to give life one last, energetic embrace.

To Love and Be Loved

First Akito and Haruna like to think that even those facing death deserve to find that special someone. Later, they wonder: Is the change in view meant to be that they realize they can fall for each other?

Akito realizes that romance shouldn’t be an end, but a means for seeing himself, Haruna, and others anew. First-time lovers like these may fancy life as one big heart emoji. It’s up to them to move beyond that bubble into real love. Love that isn’t consistently selfless could be merely selfishness in disguise; it’s reverse narcissism projected onto the object of love instead of onto itself. Akito begins by contemplating suicide. Chastened, his arc as his character develops shows wisdom.  

Aikito Hayasaka (Ren Nagase) learns to think of others, in “Drawing Closer.” Netflix

First Akito feels that he’s the worst off. Only when he sees Haruna’s predicament does he perceive that his situation is merely subjective. There’s always someone else who’s worse off. Suffering is an invitation not to be full of self-pity but to have compassion. 

Blooming Flowers

One shot has Haruna looking mournfully at shriveled flowers in a vase. She seems to recognize that flowers, like people, are meant to bloom for a time but not live forever. It’s what they do while alive that matters: to bring brightness or prompt thought. Akito, too, learns that. Like the bunches of flowers he brings Haruna, his anguished family needs to be held close not pushed away.

When Akito loftily explains his distancing, his father replies: “It’s OK to be a burden. You can ask us for things.” Not that Akito’s a burden. His dad means that love is two-sided. A love that insists only on giving is anything but; it’s actually driven by pride. Love that receives with as much grace as it gives, humbly acknowledges that same impulse to love in others, and is a love no less.  

Haruna started out sporting a snooty, fashionable indifference to death. Later, her impassioned plea, “I don’t want to die. I want to live more,” suggests that she’d much rather live better than merely longer. In six months, she learns more than many do in a lifetime.

Haruna Sakurai (Natsuki Deguchi) and Akito Hayasaka (Ren Nagase) learn to care about each other, in “Drawing Closer.” Netflix

You can watch “Drawing Closer” on Netflix.

‘Drawing Closer’ Director: Takahiro Miki Starring: Ren Nagase, Natsuki Deguchi MPAA Rating: TV-14 Running Time: 1 hour, 58 minutes Release Date: June 27, 2024 Rated: 3 stars out of 5

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