Based on a manga by Aoi Hiiragi, Yoshifumi Kondo’s anime “Whisper of the Heart” was one of the most popular anime titles of the 90s, even becoming the highest grossing Japanese film of 1995. Yuichiro Hirakawa presents his own version now, again drawing inspiration from the original story, but moving into different narrative paths.
Whisper of the Heart is screening in select theaters in the US, courtesy of Capelight Pictures
The film unfolds in two axes, one in the present, when our main heroes, Shizuku and Seiji, are 25 years old, and one in the past, ten years before. To take things from the beginning, during their middle school years, both protagonists are extreme bookworms, who compete for who will first get the new novel from the school library. Following Shizuku’s investigation on her adversary’s identity, the two eventually meet, and realize that they have too much in common,...
Whisper of the Heart is screening in select theaters in the US, courtesy of Capelight Pictures
The film unfolds in two axes, one in the present, when our main heroes, Shizuku and Seiji, are 25 years old, and one in the past, ten years before. To take things from the beginning, during their middle school years, both protagonists are extreme bookworms, who compete for who will first get the new novel from the school library. Following Shizuku’s investigation on her adversary’s identity, the two eventually meet, and realize that they have too much in common,...
- 2/14/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Stars: Tsubasa Nakagawa, Itsuki Nagasawa, Rina Ikoma, Taro Suruga, Toshiro Yanagiba | Written by Yoichi Narita, Yu Sakudo | Directed by Yoichi Narita
Fantasia Festival has been helping me out this year with it’s range and variety of coming-of-age movies. Follow The Light adds some sci-fi to a terrifically written and original coming-of-age story.
Follow The Light starts off a bit slow but in truth this is a slow paced movie. I’d even use the word calm because that’s how I felt while watching much of the movie. It tackles several issues (more on those later) but in this kind of relaxed way. It’s not an experience I’ve had very often with films but it’s a welcome one.
Shy school kid Akira moves with his dad to the Japanese countryside and a school that is about to be closed for good. After seeing Maki, a mysterious...
Fantasia Festival has been helping me out this year with it’s range and variety of coming-of-age movies. Follow The Light adds some sci-fi to a terrifically written and original coming-of-age story.
Follow The Light starts off a bit slow but in truth this is a slow paced movie. I’d even use the word calm because that’s how I felt while watching much of the movie. It tackles several issues (more on those later) but in this kind of relaxed way. It’s not an experience I’ve had very often with films but it’s a welcome one.
Shy school kid Akira moves with his dad to the Japanese countryside and a school that is about to be closed for good. After seeing Maki, a mysterious...
- 8/26/2021
- by Alain Elliott
- Nerdly
The dying out of a number of rural areas in Japan, due to the declining birthrate, the aging population and the intense urbanization that has always characterized the country, has been a significant issue for decades now, as the agricultural sector keeps declining. Yoichi Narita places his story in such an area, also adding a personal experience of his, concerning a green light and crop circle that appeared in his hometown in 1991.
“Follow the Light” is Screening at Fantasia International Film Festival
The location is the fictitious Uguisudani in Akita, whose livelihood is tied to growing rice. Due to the aforementioned issues however, the sole middle school in town will close at the end of the school year, a decision that lays heavily on both students and parents. Akira Nakajima has returned to the area from Tokyo, along with his father, Ryota, after his failed music career led to a hard divorce,...
“Follow the Light” is Screening at Fantasia International Film Festival
The location is the fictitious Uguisudani in Akita, whose livelihood is tied to growing rice. Due to the aforementioned issues however, the sole middle school in town will close at the end of the school year, a decision that lays heavily on both students and parents. Akira Nakajima has returned to the area from Tokyo, along with his father, Ryota, after his failed music career led to a hard divorce,...
- 8/26/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Out in the countryside, far from Tokyo where he lived when his parents were still together, Akira (Tsubasa Nakagawa) can see for miles and miles, yet still he feels constrained. He’s full of resentment at the way his life has been overturned, and as if having to start at a new school were not troublesome enough, he'll soon have to do it all over again. That school is scheduled to close because so many people are moving away from the area. Rice farming doesn't bring in the money that it used to. All of the students are unhappy, finding only a modicum of solace in preparations for a closing ceremony.
Maki (Itsuki Nagasawa) doesn’t even bother to go to school anymore. She spends the days standing on the roof of her uncle’s barn, from which she can see still further. Perhaps she searching for a glimpse of those who have left.
Maki (Itsuki Nagasawa) doesn’t even bother to go to school anymore. She spends the days standing on the roof of her uncle’s barn, from which she can see still further. Perhaps she searching for a glimpse of those who have left.
- 8/13/2021
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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