God of acting in Crying out Love in the center of the world - Yamada Takayuki

Takayuki Yamada appears in many Japanese films and dramas and is almost considered a national actor. Several of the works he has been in are among my personal favorites. I especially prefer the roles he played in the early 2000s, when he was in his early twenties. I believe he must have been in an intense state of immersion during that period. In particular, not the film version but the drama version of Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World remains one of my favorite dramas of all time. The most unforgettable impression I had in my twenties was watching his crying scenes. They did not feel like acting. What I saw and what I felt did not depend on whether it was real or performance. It simply did not matter. It felt sufficient that he was able to convey emotion and moments through acting. By “sufficient,” I mean that what I witnessed on the screen was convincing enough for me to believe it was real. I was persuaded to the point that I no longer perceived it as drama or performance, but as something genuine.