In Isao Yukisada’s “Kaede,” a photographer starts impersonating his recently deceased twin brother and living with the latter’s partner to help ease her pain. Sure enough, he begins to develop feelings for the woman, who is apparently so blinded by grief that she doesn’t realize she’s shacked up with an impostor.

It sounds like the synopsis for a twisted psychodrama, but Yukisada has other ends in mind. “Kaede,” showing in cinemas nationwide since last week, is a glossy, tearjerking romance with conscious echoes of the director’s 2004 box-office smash, “Crying Out Love in the Center of the World.” The most distinctive thing about it isn’t the weirdly creepy premise, but the fact that it’s based on a song.

Originally released in 1998 by rock band Spitz, “Kaede” (“Maple”) is one of those ageless hits that still gets regularly wheeled out at school concerts and karaoke sessions. It’s a slow-burner with a soaring chorus (“Goodbye, I’ll hold your voice with me as I walk on”) that’s shamelessly emotive, even if you’d be hard pressed to say exactly what it’s about.

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