Drama

HANAGATAMI

花筐／ＨＡＮＡＧＡＴＡＭＩ

Directed by: Nobuhiko Ōbayashi
2017 / 169 minutes / Unclassified 15+ (under 15s must be accompanied by an adult)

日本語の解説は映画.comへ

A vividly moving reflection on young love and heartache for all that’s lost.

Capping off Nobuhiko Ōbayashi’s “war trilogy” with a film that was in development for 40 years, HANAGATAMI is a psychedelic, rose-tinted lament for the youth stolen by war. An adaptation of Kazuo Dan’s 1937 novel of the same name, HANAGATAMI is set in a picturesque seaside town on the western coast of Japan in the final lead up to WWII. The story follows the innocent 16-year-old Toshihiko (Shunsuke Kubozuka) and his group of extraordinary friends. Tension builds as the carefree adolescents share fleeting intimate exchanges while reflecting on the value of their lives and the inescapable impending doom on the horizon.

Nobuhiko Ōbayashi’s signature directional style of jarring, iconoclastic edits and texturally audacious cinematography make for a disorientating visual shockwave, indicative of avante-garde techniques that first inspired his films during the sixties.