1999 nen no natsu yasumi

It's touching to read the reviews for this very special movie. I actually watched it only because I found a VHS copy selling for $1 at a thrift store and it is certainly one of my all time favorites. And this film provides a strange speculative "answer" to so many films out there about... being in a romantic quagmire. I think RW Fassbinder would have adored this movie and I bet Wong Kar Wai did and many others....

It looks as though there is no DVD of this film available but at the moment used copies of the VHS are available starting at 2 bucks on amazon... and you you and YOU should get one!

I have to add more lines: I got mine!

I took a serious look at this film on march the 7th 1997,, in line with other such movies as part of an East Asian film series held at IU in Bloomington Indiana.

Since then i've payed close attention to the japanese academy awards, Juzo Itami(and his death),,being in college and having suicidal ideation made it all the more comforting in that one particular director. Minbo&Tampopo along with Taxing woman.This lead to Qiu Ju, Raise the red lantern and Ju dou, all by director Zhang Yimou. Lastly was Why has the Bodhi-Dharma left for the east, by korean director Bai Young-Kyun.

I owe it all to the memorable visual eye candy and myself coming out and coming of age, as to the reason that i love this film. Also for the fact that seeing it for the second time was like the first time. Seeing it with my aunti who was an avid film freak, not keeping in touch with her so thinking that i would never see it again. Then to just come upon it one day in a required fine arts assignment in college. The task was to see all the films of all the film series, run by both the fine arts dept and the language and cultural depts. Seeing animations from the eastern block countries of a political nature and then the high art surrealistic movies of 1970's germany, and various films that reminded me of Baraka.Reintroductions to Maya Arden. All this inspiration from one source.

I love film, but hollywood 90+ percent of the time missed the mark. Sure a few good scenes here followed by some good lines there with lots of advertising savvy to get you there in the first place. Though if you want good movies that get you to think outside of your comfort zone,the whole world is out there. Hollywood movies and their formulaic approach is like apple sauce for the aged when they have teeth.

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 . . .

Hauntingly beautiful, in the tradition of "Why Has Bodhidharma Left for the East?", and "Gattaca" this is a small work of art with an excellent, though slow-moving plot, exploring the themes of loneliness, sexual repression, jealousy, tenderness, and violence. It's surreal, in a completely inconspicuous and beguiling way; no adults are ever seen, the kids constantly wear ties, the school and dormitory is unbelievably stark, parts of the story (but which?)are dreams, and the older boys are played by girls!

It works to excellent effect. It may be the best film on gay themes besides the Canadian gem "Lilies."

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.