SINGAPORE: You know we've reached a new level of the modern age when the immensely popular 2006 online serialised downloaded novel Akai Ito - which had Japanese youth reading off their mobiles - has become a television series and now a big screen feature film.

Mei (Nao Minamisawa) and Atsushi (Junpei Mizobata) go through the trials and tribulations of the tumultuous time we call High School, sharing, among many other things, the same leap year birthday.

It's a tangled melodramatic web, with longing teen-angst-filled heartache and the elusive "red thread of fate" that inextricably intertwines "the one" to another "one".

Between the syrupy hues of teenage love and public service announcements of "don't do drugs" and "stay away from alcohol", the movie's initial premise of soul mates destined for each other isn't interesting enough to sustain its almost two hours of ridiculous plot twists and overt preaching.

The young cast may have requisite Japanese teen idol looks, but they do not possess enough gumption to make this a must-watch. - TODAY/sh