Make sure you get part 1.

There were two sequels -- I saw part 3 (missed part 2) -- okay but not as good as the original and the boy has grown into his mid-teens (as I recall, there is some understated reflection on what happens to an AF/YF relationship when the boy grows up). Interestingly enough, the actor who played the AF (he is not portrayed as an exclusive BL -- he is also engaged to be married and it is through his fiancee that the boy comes to live with him) had himself been a major child star. You and diogenes may have heard of the longest running serial in cinematic history, It's Tough Being a Man, that follows the adventures of a ne'er do well itinerant salesman with a heart of gold and his long-suffering family. The actor who plays the AF in Always was the nephew in the series -- you see him grow from a little tyke into a young man. The films were released twice a year -- once at New Year's and once in mid-summer. The New Year's release the year the nephew was in 6th grade was the height of the tiny-shorts-and-tube-socks fashion and sure enough, that is how the boy was decked out, despite the frigid weather. Thighs to die for. I think it's the one called "Tora-san goes religious." SR