Hana & Alice (2004)

At 15 your best friend is everything to you. Until you start growing up...Hana and Alice are inseparable friends until Miyamoto a cute boy they spot at a train station comes between them. Tricking Miyamoto into believing that he is suffering from amnesia Hana claims that she is his girlfriend. A baffled Miyamoto struggles to regain his memories as he is drawn to the prettier Alice. When the bond deepens the girls' lifelong relationship begins to fray... propelling them apart. From one of Japan's top directors this tender coming-of-age story beautifully captures the passion and heartache of adolescence. System Requirements:Running Time: 135 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN UPC: 014381381825 Manufacturer No: HVE3818DVD Product Description

Bittersweet and gentle

Hana & Alice
Shunji Iwai 2004

It's a tale as old as the hills, or at least as text messaging. Hana and Alice are BFF, doing all the goofy, giddy things together that school age girls do. Then one day on a train Hana spots a tall young man and falls for him. They speculate whether the shorter, geeky guy with his nose in a book is his brother or friend or ..., but the opportunity passes and Hana worships from afar. Time passes, maybe it's a new school year, and the tall one vanishes leaving the bookworm, Masashi. For reasons that weren't clear to me, Hana transfers her affections to him, and when he clumsily knocks himself out (or just down) she revives him and pretends that she is his girlfriend; he must have amnesia, which he accepts and tries to regain his lost memories.

Hana eventually weaves Alice into her tall tales, which develops into a classic triangle with the added delicious twist of the constantly invented past history. This thread of the film is pursued with low key humor and, when it spirals out of control, genuine pathos.

But there is much else in the film, the stories of the everyday lives of Hana and Alice. Hana joins a comedy club and prepares for a school festival, Alice continues ballet lessons. Alice meets with her divorced father for lunch. She is 'discovered' as an actress/model by an agent.

I won't say much more, except that it all ties together in the ending, which is both up- and down-beat. It's a bittersweet and gentle film, with a bizarre premise grounded by the day to day detail of the girls' lives. A bit long, and maybe a bit confusing on first (only) viewing, I'll nonetheless give this one 5 *'s. July 20, 2008

Another masterpiece from Shunji Iwai...

Hana and Alice is simply fantastic. I am not going to be very specific with this review, I just wanted to make it clear that this is a wonderful film from an innovative and passionate director. Prepare yourself for a fairy tale meets coming of age meets avant-garde masterpiece. Fans of All About Lily Chou-Chou will not be disappointed. August 16, 2007

A wedge

After the dark world of All About Lily Chou Chou in which junior high
kids are involved in prostitution, extortion, and murder, Iwai returns
with Hana and Alice, a film that brings the audience to the tried and
true theme of the love triangle. This time involving the young trio of
Hana, Alice, and Masashi.

The story begins with the friends Hana, acted by Suzuki Anne,
Returner, 9 Souls, and Alice, Aoi Yu, All About Lily Chou Chou,
Harmful Insect, crossing frozen fields to a distant train station.
There, Alice shows Hana the object of her affection: a tall
Japanese-American. The two girls ride the the train many times. Even
taking secret photographs of biracial young man and a younger student
who they assume is his half-brother.

However, eventually, Alice's crush is gone and only the younger man,
whose nose is always in a book, rides the train. Alice is heartbroken,
But Hana continues riding the train, affection for the young man
growing in her heart.

When high school begins, Hana joins the Rakugo club because her crush,
Miyamoto Masashi, is also a member of the club. One day, while
following her crush, Hana witnesses Masashi hits his head hard on a
garage door knocking him to the ground. Hana rushes up to him and asks
him if he is okay. Masashi begins reciting some of his rakugo lines and
is convinced that he is okay, but Hana asks him if he remembers her. On
this he is not so clear, Hana then states that she is his girlfriend.
This of course shocks Masashi and so begins the process of Masashi
trying to recover from an amnesia created by the lovesick Hana.

I was worried by the premise of this film at first, because it has been
done a number of times before. However, I should have had more faith in
Iwai Shunji. This is truly a good film and it really tugs on the heart
strings. Those of us who have had our love for someone else
non-reciprocated while definitely be touched. The acting is well done.
Especially that of Aoi Yu who played Tsuda Shiori, the young girl
forced to be a prostitute in Lily Chou Chou. The music, as always, is
very nice, and this time it was actually composed by Iwai Shunji. May 9, 2007

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