*this review MAY contain a spoiler*
Kagen No Tsuki (English Title: Last Quarter) is a welcome and well executed modern fairytale of two tragic love stories accidentally mixed up. Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill) does a wonderful job playing Mizuki and the supporting cast perform equally well if not outperform her in several moments. However I did not care much for Japanese pop idol Hyde playing the English rock star Adam (with an English accent so bad it is virtually impossible to understand the man). But the true strength of this film lies in it's storytelling. The atmosphere that Ken Nikai creates, the decors, the colors, the costumes, the lighting: they are simply all perfect. It is hard to get into the story without giving away any clues but in short, without any spoilers to the plot: Mizuki is bored with her life and moves in with a British musician named Adam, in a rather sinister looking house. As soon as Adam tells her he is going away she runs after him to join him. However she is hit by a car. Suddenly and without explanation Mizuki finds herself trapped in the old house, where she meets a girl who is looking for her cat. When Mizuki helps her find the cat the girl disappears in front of her very eyes,.. and somewhere in a hospital the girl (named Hotaru) wakes up in a hospital bed. All she remembers is getting hit by a car when she was looking for her cat, and a girl in her dreams who helped her find her cat and woke her up in the real world. This is where the story starts when Hotaru sets out to find a way to help solve Mizuki's mystery and why she is trapped inside the house.
In short? A delightfully different and wonderfully made film from Japan. It is hard to find anything wrong with this film. Go see it if you have a chance!
(This review is based on the recently released Japanese DVD with English subtitles which is a stunning release in terms of image quality, sound and subtitle quality).
Kagen No Tsuki (English Title: Last Quarter) is a welcome and well executed modern fairytale of two tragic love stories accidentally mixed up. Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill) does a wonderful job playing Mizuki and the supporting cast perform equally well if not outperform her in several moments. However I did not care much for Japanese pop idol Hyde playing the English rock star Adam (with an English accent so bad it is virtually impossible to understand the man). But the true strength of this film lies in it's storytelling. The atmosphere that Ken Nikai creates, the decors, the colors, the costumes, the lighting: they are simply all perfect. It is hard to get into the story without giving away any clues but in short, without any spoilers to the plot: Mizuki is bored with her life and moves in with a British musician named Adam, in a rather sinister looking house. As soon as Adam tells her he is going away she runs after him to join him. However she is hit by a car. Suddenly and without explanation Mizuki finds herself trapped in the old house, where she meets a girl who is looking for her cat. When Mizuki helps her find the cat the girl disappears in front of her very eyes,.. and somewhere in a hospital the girl (named Hotaru) wakes up in a hospital bed. All she remembers is getting hit by a car when she was looking for her cat, and a girl in her dreams who helped her find her cat and woke her up in the real world. This is where the story starts when Hotaru sets out to find a way to help solve Mizuki's mystery and why she is trapped inside the house.
In short? A delightfully different and wonderfully made film from Japan. It is hard to find anything wrong with this film. Go see it if you have a chance!
(This review is based on the recently released Japanese DVD with English subtitles which is a stunning release in terms of image quality, sound and subtitle quality).