a glimpse of what a school year could look like in imperial japan through following a group of high school girls. building teenage memories while preparing for adult life. always love when japanese cinema tries to capture everyday life

two girls, two different ways of loving each other, one wants more, and the other just wants to stay best friends.

a bit existential, exploring the simplest human emotions like love, desire, or sex, along with quick questions about oneself.

liked how it starts right away without wasting time, their bond already feels so palpable. just a few minutes in, i was already invested in their relationship.

the more it progresses, the more complicated it gets, and you start to see the limits of it. first part feels almost naive, but it gradually becomes more toxic between them.

so chaotic, both in form and content, just like its own conception. unfinished Hi-8 footage shot in 1995, only to be completed 17 years later.

a film caught between entirely different eras of Sono’s work, yet still deeply connected to the very essence of his cinema. violence and sexuality, to explore love and marginalized people, as his favorite subjects to film and write.

a gangster film turns into something else entirely, an almost queer tale about love and all forms of discrimination. physical violence becomes secondary, merely the consequence and catalyst of the true violence.

the fear and hatred of people loving differently.

how do you make boredom so captivating?

summer slice-of-life in a seaside town where it’s just four bored people being filmed. i loved how i found myself bored with them but never bored of the film. the constant use of static shots, everyday actions, the same places again and again, make it so enveloping.

it’s also a beautiful time capsule, sometimes funny, sometimes nostalgic. friendship and love, just like summer, are ephemeral, while loneliness lingers, as something you can't escape.

maybe that loneliness is just a wave of our souls, and our souls are the sea.