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.
Director Nobuhiko Obayashi wrote himself into cinema history after his total out-of-body experience House (1977) which to this day is one of the craziest film ever made, and can you believe that he somehow manages to catch the lightning again? Hanagatami incorporates every little trick in Obayashi's sleeve, the amount of film-techniques and little quirky effects mounts up to one hell of a bizarre and exhilarating three hour ride. It looks both hilariously cheap and amazingly well-put together at the same time, the editing is like a roller-coaster of its own. Obayashi was diagnosed with lung cancer just before the production of the movie and was given three months, and during that time I reckon he did everything he could to give the world a film they wouldn't soon forget.
Genre: Drama/War
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