Naratâju

You just have to have a taste for Yukisada. He always makes similarly tuned films. You have to want to get into the characters, but you can't expect it to be easy. It's a vicious cycle that two characters want to break out of; both Kudo Izumi and Mr. Hayama, the teacher. Each of them has that vicious circle a little differently, with Hayama wandering for longer. Basically, these two characters are helping each other out of it while simultaneously withdrawing into it. Hayama is an incredibly kind teacher/person, observant and understanding (it wasn't always that way though). Izumi is quiet and a very good observer, though of course she overreacts once. [SPOILER] When Izumi wants to escape the circle, when she's really desperate, she allows herself to take refuge in the kindness of Ono. Based on the fact that he took her home to his family at her bad time, she figures that he'll be the one to get her out of her vicious circle and really tries to make it so. Except that Ono isn't Hayama, which Izumi recognizes in the moments when Ono gets uncontrollably jealous and basically rapes her. Overall, we can see how different the two men are just by the depiction of Izumi's consensual intercourse with them. [END SPOILER]It's an intimate confession of two people who are grateful for each other, and maybe it's love and maybe it's not. It's definitely the purgatory they have to go through to finally break free from their cycle one day. Definitely a story with something to say, characters that are complex (Izumi can seem awfully apathetic about some things, but you think about whether she wants to end the suffering; Hayama can seem like an indecisive jerk, and indecisive he certainly was, but even that has its merits) and human. Definitely a film that is a joy to ponder. (09/07/2020)