OKAY, a full confessional here: when I acquired the 2007 movie DEAR FRIENDS, my MAIN purpose of checking out this flick was to see the ubiquitous Kitagawa Keiko (who has without doubt moved up to become one of my VERY FAVORITE actresses) duked out as a SEXY, SUPER-HOT VIXEN complete with the skimpy outfits and tight, tight shorty-shorts and the attitude to match! Sexily gyrating on the sweaty dance floor and leading on her choice of men, she’s the kind of girl who has friends casually ask, “Could it be you’re pregnant AGAIN?” and have her response be, “Can’t Be…I’m on the Pill, after all!” WHOA! But if I thought this movie was gonna be all fun and games, I was SORELY MISINFORMED! ‘Cause though there WAS an awful lot of that in the first half of the movie, at one point, Dear Friends becomes quite somber and turns into a serious and introspective film. Where I thought I would be spending my time drooling and pandering after Keiko, I suddenly found myself weeping like a girlyman instead! Keiko plays Rina, a sexy girl-about town who has the world of the nightlife in the palm of her hand. She is brash, spoiled and manipulating, but when she finds herself suddenly hospitalized, she is brought crashing back to earth, her partygoing life and thrillseeking friends taking a back seat as Rina is forced to see what really matters in life. Stellar acting from all the lead actors, especially Keiko and actress Yuika Motokariya, who plays Maki, another sick girl who gives Rina the inner strength to go on with her life when fate has dealt her a bitter hand. Also of merit is the CUTE little girl Mao Sasaki who played Kanae, a tiny shut-in patient who befriends Rina during her initial stay at the hospital. Oh, and a holler out to Hatsume Matsushima who played Rina’s partygoing friend Emi who looked HELLA like Ueto Aya in those opening scenes! This is my second movie in recent weeks dealing with hospitalization and cancer after seeing equally terrific HEAVEN’S DOOR, the movie that starred Nagase Tomoya as the cancer patient and Mayuko Fukuda as the shut-in hospitalized girl. Though the two movies couldn’t be any more different, they both had heart at its center and guaranteed that I’d be using up all my Kleenex as it took me through its emotional ups and downs!! Sob, Sob!