YUKIKO'S SPINACH:
Yukiko's Spinach tells the story of the unnamed narrator and his relationship with a girl named Yukiko while he is in Japan. They have a sort of wabi-sabi relationship, which is a aesthetic principle of acceptance of transience and impermanence. I bring this up because a lot of Japanese movies and culture revolves around this concept.
This story has a more adult sense of a romantic story, with elements of comedy. Most Romantic Comedies I've seen, which I admit is only a few, have a more "fairytale " kind of romance. In Yukiko's Spinach, they accept a relationship based more in the physical realm, with the knowledge that it can never continue further. Yukiko will leave him eventually, but they choose to continue to see each other and enjoy their time together while they have it.
I like how the comic uses the main character's mispronunciation of the Japanese language and misunderstandings of Japanese Culture as a way to incorporate comedy into the story. The self deprecation of a French man admitting and making humorous his own short comings creates a fun atmosphere. My favorite jokes are the ones directed at his French accent getting in the way of pronouncing Japanese correctly, probably because I (slightly) learned French in high school(and by slightly I mean I took 3 years, so naturally I don't speak a word of French) and am learning Japanese currently.
This love story seems to cross cultural boundaries within Asia as well. Films made in Asian countries tend to reflect this concept in way of the relationships depicted. Its manifestation in John Woo's film "The Killer" sees our protagonist die after protecting his main love interest in the movie. The scene that exemplifies this is the scene when the Love Interest, who is blind, crawls past his body screaming his name looking for him.
In the Thai Martial Arts film ช็อคโกแต(Chocolate, not the Johnny Depp Movie), Zen's motivation is to collect on her mothers mafia debts, which ends up causing her mothers former boss to murder her. Zen then loses her mother, yet gains her Japanese father as a caretaker.
Even in American/Western movies that revolve around a central Japanese or Asian theme its prevailant. Its very similar to the relationship in the movie Lost in Translation. Both parties know the relationship will not last, but they will enjoy the time shared while they have it. In the case of the film Lost in Translation, Bob Harris(Bill Murray) and Charlotte(Scarlett Johanssen) share a similar, although more platonic, relationship upon crossing paths in Tokyo. Charlotte is married, so both characters know the relationship will not last long. In Yukiko's Spinach, Yukiko is interested in someone who is not the narrator, but she accepts the short term nature of their relationship.
In the Spanish film Map of the Sounds of Tokyo, Ryu(Rinko Kikuchi) is hired to kill David(Sergi Lopez) by a man whose daughter committed suicide, which the man blames on David. Rather than kill him, they form a mostly sexual relationship, although its clear that feelings for one another are developing. The man that hired Ryu to kill David becomes upset at her lack of follow through on her task. When the client comes to kill David himself, Ryu sacrifices herself to save David and dies in his arms.
Even the film The Wolverine, based on a comic series in the X-Men universe with a similar story, has a hint at this kind of romantic relationship. Logan and Mariko share this kind of relationship. It doesn't end quite as disastrously as some aforementioned movies, but it still follows the same formula of the impersistant quality of the relationships. Its clear that they love each other, but they both have differing destinies.
