This movie is dark. While watching I felt the same emotions they did as their journey progressed. I was bored in points, sad, tense and wondering how and where it would end.
The acting was actually very solid. It is no secret I am a fan of Matsuda Shota. He does a wonderful job playing Kento who seems, on the surface, the calm and more sensible of the pair of boys. With his emotions being repressed and boiling under the surface like a dormant volcano. This guy can act. Kora Kengo who plays Jun as more frantic; all his emotions out there for you to see. And almost a relunctant follower who doesn't want to be left behind by the only friend he has. There were many points in this movie when I found them both hard to like.
The plot is a bit wanting. Their journey a bit abstract. The ending intense. I felt as if the writing was good but this movie has quite an "Indy film" feel and so an artistic angle sometimes negates exposition and a solid trajectory of story. This left me unsatisfied.
The music is forgettable but I don't think it was meant to be anything but background sound so I gave it a 6.
My rewatch value is low but I'm not going to express why as that might spoil a person interested in watching. If you are a fan of Shota, I say give it a try. Also, if you are a fan of gritty, independent films you may like this. I'm giving it a 7. Mostly for the two leads.
I stayed with this for the acting and for that I don't regret watching.
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But as it progresses you understand what's going on and why things are going on and why things happen.
It was nice having scenes that had a lack of music, to show realism, for example the long take of them riding the bikes scene; with no soundtrack or music to it, because that's what actually happens in life.
And something's happened that you can't explain but could completely understand and relate to and almost agree with.
The prison scene was so captivating.
The great thing about this movie is that it isn't the normal 'hollywood action packed romance characters are amazing and gorgeous (well to me they were gorgeous xD)' type of movie. It was a movie with depth, although it does not seem like that to begin with, you understand it as the movie progresses.
The movie didn't flow, it wasn't what you would call the 'interesting' and 'eventful' movie that people these days are used to which was a nice change and gave a new life to films.
The characters all had flaws and it was such a sense of realism that you couldn't help not relating to them and you understood them and why things happened.
The actors: Matsuda Shota - AMAZING! But he's always been a solid actor and his acting does not fail in this. His performance was amazing!
Kora Kengo - I definitely want to see him act again. First time I've seen him act and I was impressed with how he portrayed the character and took it on board.
Ando Sakura - You may recognise her from Love Exposure. She acts great in this and may have improved from LE! I like how she took this role and I like how she played her character.
Ending song is beautiful too I think ^^
Turned out to be a pretty damn good film!
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