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Let me make an exception this time and put my usual three questions at the beginning of the review:
Was the film good?
Yes, it was a coming-of-age film done with precision, and tied together local history of the place with a positive message.
Did I like it?
I don't get on with the performative SNS of the modern age, and that impacted my enjoyment massively. But I understand that this is my own problem. Now, some days after watching, I find that this *was* an outstanding fim.
Who would I recommend it to?
To people who like coming-of-age stories.
The thing is that I really struggled to get through the first half of this film. Modern socmed and their empty performativity, that is nothing I know or care about. So, to see Masao and his friends fake being handball players and fake caring about their hometown just for likes from people they don't even know, that felt strange to me. How can they love this kind of empty praise? How can they not feel ridiculous when they do this? On an intellectual level, I know that this must be addictive. but I don't (want to) understand.
I also did not understand Masao's gloom and doom attitude, when everybody else around him had already picked up the pieces after the devastation of the 2016 Yumamoto earthquake. On an intellectual level, I know that this film was done very well.
I could see the quality of the story telling and of the actors. I liked that the film was so grounded in the history of the 2016 earthquake and its aftermath (I'm reasonable sure that the places we saw are original locations, especially the temporary shelters). I liked the background characters, the grandpa with the wolly hat, Masao's brother and his girlfriend, Masao's parents -- all of whom were sweet people, who had no idea of what happened with Masao's "dutch ball" and the "SNS". I liked that the boys were realistically boys, not sanitized at all -- rough and hormonal but never mean.
I just wasn't able to bring up a shred of interest, but I know that this is solely my own problem, not a problem with the film itself.
Luckily, this changed in the second half. Or rather, about 35 minutes before the film ended. It was only then that the film showed us its core theme. And the theme surprised me in the best of ways. Earlier, a girl had asked Masao "What are you "striving" for?", and he didn't have an answer. And if the film had followed the usual path for a film like that, the boys would have banded together to win the nationals as underdogs, and would have worked hard and harder, with a lot of "ganbarimasu" -- and they would have beat the odds, or at least they would *almost* beat them etc. etc.
Thing is, this does not happen here. Not quite. Yes, the boys band together -- but they immediately quarrel about trivialities. Yes, they take part in the nationals -- but the focus is on the audience, who came to cheer them on, because, as two elderly people said in the beginning: "It feels good to cheer someone on." -- "Yes, instead of being the ones cheered on." And when Masao leaves for the game in the morning, he tells his mother: "I will have so much fun!"
And I think this is the core of the film.
"To "strive" to enjoy life." Don't live in gloom and doom, after something bad has happended. Live your life to the fullest, find joy in the trivialities. Do what you like, whether it's being a funeral dicrector (like Masao's brother), a hostess (like Masao's brother's girlfriend), or a handball player. Show the world that peace sign and smile into the camera, not for others to cheer you on, but for yourself.
Was the film good?
Yes, it was a coming-of-age film done with precision, and tied together local history of the place with a positive message.
Did I like it?
I don't get on with the performative SNS of the modern age, and that impacted my enjoyment massively. But I understand that this is my own problem. Now, some days after watching, I find that this *was* an outstanding fim.
Who would I recommend it to?
To people who like coming-of-age stories.
The thing is that I really struggled to get through the first half of this film. Modern socmed and their empty performativity, that is nothing I know or care about. So, to see Masao and his friends fake being handball players and fake caring about their hometown just for likes from people they don't even know, that felt strange to me. How can they love this kind of empty praise? How can they not feel ridiculous when they do this? On an intellectual level, I know that this must be addictive. but I don't (want to) understand.
I also did not understand Masao's gloom and doom attitude, when everybody else around him had already picked up the pieces after the devastation of the 2016 Yumamoto earthquake. On an intellectual level, I know that this film was done very well.
I could see the quality of the story telling and of the actors. I liked that the film was so grounded in the history of the 2016 earthquake and its aftermath (I'm reasonable sure that the places we saw are original locations, especially the temporary shelters). I liked the background characters, the grandpa with the wolly hat, Masao's brother and his girlfriend, Masao's parents -- all of whom were sweet people, who had no idea of what happened with Masao's "dutch ball" and the "SNS". I liked that the boys were realistically boys, not sanitized at all -- rough and hormonal but never mean.
I just wasn't able to bring up a shred of interest, but I know that this is solely my own problem, not a problem with the film itself.
Luckily, this changed in the second half. Or rather, about 35 minutes before the film ended. It was only then that the film showed us its core theme. And the theme surprised me in the best of ways. Earlier, a girl had asked Masao "What are you "striving" for?", and he didn't have an answer. And if the film had followed the usual path for a film like that, the boys would have banded together to win the nationals as underdogs, and would have worked hard and harder, with a lot of "ganbarimasu" -- and they would have beat the odds, or at least they would *almost* beat them etc. etc.
Thing is, this does not happen here. Not quite. Yes, the boys band together -- but they immediately quarrel about trivialities. Yes, they take part in the nationals -- but the focus is on the audience, who came to cheer them on, because, as two elderly people said in the beginning: "It feels good to cheer someone on." -- "Yes, instead of being the ones cheered on." And when Masao leaves for the game in the morning, he tells his mother: "I will have so much fun!"
And I think this is the core of the film.
"To "strive" to enjoy life." Don't live in gloom and doom, after something bad has happended. Live your life to the fullest, find joy in the trivialities. Do what you like, whether it's being a funeral dicrector (like Masao's brother), a hostess (like Masao's brother's girlfriend), or a handball player. Show the world that peace sign and smile into the camera, not for others to cheer you on, but for yourself.
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