For the first 20 minutes or so I was pretty confused and maybe even frustrated. The style is very odd- there's lots of choppy editing, unrealistic special effects, and obvious green screen, but all so obvious it's clearly intentional.
To what purpose? I wasn't always sure. I guess the story is framed as a distant memory, so maybe to depict it in a strictly realistic sense would be unfaithful to that concept? Or maybe it's just Obayashi's style- I haven't seen enough of his other films to know for sure.
I will admit it does make for some striking images. There are some incredibly beautiful shots here and there, contrasted with others that look garish and ugly. Again: I know it's intentional. What that intention was? I wasn't always sure.
I'm often interested in stories about people coping with an imminent threat or war, and with most of this story set right before Japan got involved in WW2, this film is kind of one of those. It's not just about that, though. It's a long and ambitious film with a number of important characters and many themes explored. I can't unpack them all, but the fact there is so much going on does ensure that the long runtime of almost three hours is justified, and while the film was sometimes very confusing, it was never boring.
I will say the last 10 minutes are great, and those last couple of scenes tie the film together well, and give context to some of the things that bewildered me earlier in the film.
It's an experience watching this, for sure. I didn't love it, and sometimes found myself turned off by some of its out there decisions in regards to visuals and editing, but I have a great deal of respect for it.
The way it dealt with things like death, regret, and memories coming from an older director who was told he only had a few months to live at the time he made it also ensures its emotional resonance and power.
Plot summary
Based on Kazuo Dan's 1937 novella, Director Nobuhiko Obayashi, whose surreal phenomenon 'House (Hausu)' became an international cult classic, achieves his filmmaking dream of forty years with his new feature 'Hanagatami'. In the spring of 1941, sixteen-year-old Toshihiko leaves Amsterdam to attend school in Karatsu, a small town on the western coast of Japan, where his aunt Keiko cares for his ailing cousin Mina. Immersed in the seaside's nature and culture, Toshihiko soon befriends the town's other extraordinary adolescents as they all contend with the war's inescapable gravitational pull. With his memories as a survivor of World War II echoing in the uncertainty of world events unfolding today, director Obayashi returns us to 1941, a pivotal time for Japan, as the unstoppable momentum of war forcibly seized the lives of youth away to battlefields where they disappeared forever. In dazzling, full-bloom Obayashi style, 'Hanagatami' captures the passion, innocence, and struggle of the end days of youth in a country consumed by the flames of war.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Never seen anything like this before
Slow-paced, surreal and beautiful
What I believe people should know before they decide to watch this is that it is long, the pace is slow, the imagery sometimes very confusing and there's some nudity (both male and female). There's also not much of a story. It's basically about a group of youths struggling with their relationships in the wake of WW2 (and by that I mean that each character has a strangely charged relationship with literally everyone else). That being said, it is a beautiful movie to look at. Many scenes are made to look like they were taken from old movies with overly saturated colours. Everyone acts as if in a daze which gives the whole movie a very dream-like atmosphere. In contrast to that you have the horrors of the looming war which feel completey out of place and all the more horrible.
I'm honestly not sure if I liked it or not. The length and pace made it a very hard watch for me, but in retrospect I do appreciate what it tried to achieve.
LIVE ACTION IS AVAILABLE
And now Live Action dis movie will available in 2020 & RIP NOBUHIKO OBAYASHI