1999 nen no natsu yasumi

The director of this film is noted for schlock (Gamera, Godzilla and Anime), but this little film, which gained release in the West and even made it to home video, is something of a curiosity.

The yearnings of a group of schoolboys for one another at a palatial but deserted house where they attend summer school one particularly fetid year suspended somewhere between the past and the future, could be called homoerotic were it not for the obvious fact that the boys are all played by girls. The usual Japanese obsessions with unrequited passion and suicide are filtered in against the backdrop of the mysterious house and grounds. But nothing is resolved, except perhaps the suspicion that it is all only a dream.

Yuriko Nakamura's lovely piano music accompanied by Hajime Mizoguchi's cello contribute to the altogether captivating and haunting atmosphere. I only rate it above average because it doesn't amount to much more than a pretty curio. But a curio that lingers in the memory long after (more than a decade after) I first saw it.

I like this film because it reminds me of my earlier years. The confusion, innocence, love and emotions come very close to me regardless of age and nationality. These feelings distinct in adolescence are universal which have repeated many times in my life.

I love the idea of having 4 teens abandoned in a beautiful surrounding. The piano music score is enchanting.

I watched the movie for more than 10 times, every time I watched it, I treated it as a new movie. The movie has no time-frame, no sex and no where. It was said to be happened in 1999, but the feel was old. The actors were said to be boys, but actually they are girls. The school should be in Japan but it was more like a western school. So there can be many combinations:

1 boy + 3 girls + western school + future 3 boys + 1 girl + Japanese school + past 2 boys + 2 girls + western school + future

. . .

There were many ingredients too, friendship, love, scenery, music, family, parents (yes), city and rural, education and even IT . . .

A battle for love and acceptance between four students, all trapped in an empty school located in what seems to be the middle of a forest, with nothing else in sight but a lake filled with tragedy, as well as a train station that brings unrest in the form of a ghost. Brightness pierces the screen, like a warm and cozy summer, the same summer as the one our leads desperately want to live in eternally. Calm winds blowing leaves accompanies a soothing score, guiding us with care through a jumbled mess of emotions, which slowly rises up to the surface as they untangle. This gives an illusory feeling to the story, even more so for the artistic choice of casting all girls in the roles of the four boys, which adds even more peculiarity to this futurist world.

Not much else to say, there's some over-explanation, but it never cheapened my enjoyment of the narrative.

this film is absolutely my personal favourite of all times.

the film sets itself in a vague time and place, it never tries to tell the audience where exactly the boarding school is; and although it says it's 1999, however it gives us a very timeless feeling when we see some strange looking computers in the classroom, what the 4 'boys' wear, and also the traditional look of the boarding school. we can never tell from the film itself unless we look at the title. this not only gives me more room for imagination but also let me get more focused on the attractive plot instead of diverting my attention to unecessary explanation of like why this school locates in this particular place, or why it got to be happening in the year 1999.

the 'boys' are living on their own with no adults around, and with no interference from the outside world. being young and fearless, they are allowed to act childish, to act in an innocent way, and need not care about how the outsiders think about them. this also avoids discussion on the supposed-to-be sensitive issue on gay relationships.

this is not a complete comment on the film, let the film speaks for itself. you will be fascinated. i know it's late to comment on this film after more then 10 years i've seen this movie, but i'm sure it's not too late as you will find it never out-of-date.

rated 10/10.