Languid and fragmented, this opaquely bleak story of teenage anomie takes place over the course of two years, as a group of high-schoolers make the awkward transition from children to quasi-adults amidst academic pressure, schoolyard bullying and parental indifference. Friendships are formed and dissolved, and youngsters struggle to break free of the enforced conformity of the Japanese school system (which extends to uniforms and regulation hair cuts) by trying on new and sometimes disturbing identities. Slight, quiet and ordinary, Yuichi Hasumi (Hayato Ichihara) lives in an isolated small town with his pregnant mother and her boyfriend. During his freshman year, he ...
Released:
2001
Rated:
NR
Length:
146 mins