The Invitation from Cinema Orion (2007)

In this warmly nostalgic drama from Japan, Yoshie (Kanako Higuchi) and Yuji (Tomorowo Taguchi) are a middle-aged couple disenchanted with their marriage who one day receive a message inviting them to the final screening at the Cinema Orion, a neighborhood movie house in Kyoto that is soon to close. We learn that Yoshie and Yuji first met at the theater when they were youngsters, and we flash back to the Fifties, when nerdy but well-meaning Tomekichi (Ryo Kase) was given a job at the Orion by tough-talking manager Matsuzo (Ryudo Uzaki). Matsuzo's pretty wife Toyo (Rie Miyazawa) also works at the theater, and before long she strike up a friendship with Tomekichi that over the years grows into something deeper as Matsuzo leaves the business and Tomekichi takes control of the Orion. Orion-za kara no shotaijo (aka The Invitation from Cinema Orion) also stars Hitomi Nakahara and Yoshio Harada. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi