Hotaru

I saw this movie in Rotterdam (film festival) 2001, and I couldn't speak for an hour. I was so impressed by the atmosphere of the movie. All the emotions. For a while I was a part of the movie, a part of the things that happened there. For me it is the most beautiful movie ... ever.

The intense love affair between striptease dancer Ayako and potter Daiji is enhanced by mainly medium and close shots of the handheld camera and the natural style of the actors. The director, Kawase, shot most of the material in the area where she grew up and the whole film breaths an intimate love for the people who inhabit the villages and farmlands. The confrontation with memories and ancient traditions play a vital role in the script. For those who have the patience to watch this story to the conclusion, it's absolutely worth seeing.

Good film, but it takes a little patience to watch it and appreciate it. Hotaru means "fire fly". The director, Naomi Kawasi, was at the film festival Rotterdam where the film was showing. She mentioned that Hotaru was a metaphore for the main character in the film who, as a fire fly, used here shing beauty to attract a partner, but than gets burnt by the heat. At the end of the film she finds her inner peace...