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Junsei (Yutaka Takenouchi) is a Japanese art student living in Florence where he works as an art restorer and lives with his girlfriend Memi. Life is good: Established as one of his institute's most talented pupils, Junsei enjoys both his work and his life with Memi. His contentment is cut short, however, when his friend and fellow ex-pat Takashi tells him that Aoi, Junsei's ex-girlfriend and onetime great love, has moved to Milan. Still wracked with conflicted feelings for Aoi, Junsei is forced to confront emotions that he left buried for a long time. When one of the canvases he is restoring is brutally vandalized, Junsei's institute is closed down and he returns to Japan, where he tries to find solace in the influence and wisdom of his grandfather -- himself a famous painter -- and also attempts to come to terms with his feelings for Aoi. Twixt Calm & Passion was screened at the 2002 Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema.