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Can I Buy Your Love From a Vending Machine? (Japanese)

By Golu
This was a very cute fluffy, no frills romantic film. It focused on the core story without diverting our attention to anything happening on the side, which was good in this case. A simple, straight forward, slice of life love story between two adult men which almost feels like a teenager's first love. I can see some people may find it too simple, but for me it worked.

Ayuma is a shy guy who works in an office. One day when the vendor machine refill guy is working there, he talks to him using his desire to add orange juice to the options as an opportunity to talk to the man he’s been crushing on. In turn the next day the guy introduces himself as Yamashita and gives him his business card with his personal chat id. The duo exchange a few messages. The next day Yamashita invites Yuma to join him for dinner, which they both very much enjoy. Later Ayuma confesses to him that he is gay and he wants to be honest because sending tine with Yamashita is starting to give him feelings. Yamashita smiles and says he also likes him and asks him if he would wanna be boyfriends. Ayuma asks for a bit more time. They meet again for movie date, spend whole day together and end up spending platonic night at Yamashita's place where Yamashita notices that Ayuma loves his cellphone strap very much. Next time Ayuma invites Yaamshita to go out but he keeps making excuses, which start to worry Ayuma. Eventually they talk and it turns out that they both had insecurities about the situation and were not sure where it is heading. There is a cute beautiful reveal about the story of the cellphone strap. Eventually it's happy ending where they both kiss and decide to be boyfriends.

This film is a beautiful look at the growing awkwardness and missteps of first love while also being filled with the same joy and giddiness of falling for and spending time with someone you’ve only watched from afar. It is refreshing to see a film with an openly gay office worker in Japan who accepts that and confronts it by admitting it to his coworker and Yamashita. While Ayuma comes across as the more timid of the two men, his bravery is in accepting who he is and not being afraid to let people know to avoid misunderstandings. At the same time it is surprising that he is 32 and has never dated before, which later explains his inhibitions to become boyfriends sooner. He is afraid that he’s not reading the social cues correctly with Yamashita. It’s relatable and makes watching him realize that Yamashita’s feelings are the same as his, a beautiful thing to watch on screen. So in that sense, this film shows us wonderfully the beauty and the fear of falling in love for the first time. Right form charming actors, to their awkward interactions, to sweet conversations; this film has little angst. A beautiful romantic, heartwarming and tender film reminding us that the struggle is to take that first step to find love. (7.5/10)
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