By John Corrado
Live-action adaptations of animated films can be a contentious thing, but if only they were all as lovely as Look Back, Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda’s live-action adaptation of the popular anime and manga of the same name.
Fujino (Furi Nanase) is a young manga artist in elementary school, who draws for her school newspaper. The story follows her friendship that forms with Kyomoto (Rokka Okada), a reclusive girl who doesn’t attend class and does schooling from home.
Their bond is born out of a sort of artistic rivalry between the two girls. They start competing for eyeballs in the school paper, when Kyomoto is given a spot and starts gaining a following for her art to rival Fujino’s. But they form a close bond when they finally meet, connecting over their shared love of drawing and manga.
Kore-eda, who has a solid history of working with child actors, gets sensitive performances from his young leads. The story follows them into young adulthood, with Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita seamlessly taking over as Fujino and Kyomoto, respectively.
The defining aspect of Kore-eda’s adaptation is the 35mm cinematography by Senzo Ueno. The images are simply gorgeous, lushly capturing the changing seasons in Japan with some scenes that look like paintings. The use of colours makes this a very pretty film to watch, with this soft visual aesthetic elevating the touching Look Back every step of the way.
The Joy of Movies 