Look Back

A great movie about being a creator And an amazing adaptation of a manga. The movie deserves all of the praise it is given.

A Faithful and beautiful adaption with smooth adaptation and despites its short 1 hour runtime manages to set up and tell and end a full story.

A short, beautiful anime, based on a short, beautiful manga, about a pair of teens who dream of one day illustrating their own manga and having it adapted into an anime. You can probably say this was an intimate subject for the authors, and it spoke to me on a personal level, as well. I know how transformative it can be to share a deep, artistic passion with a kindred spirit, especially during early adolescence, and many points of Look Back’s story hit dead-center with my own experience. As, I’d presume, it might for a shocking number of creatives. We can push ourselves, toy with different styles, discover new inspirations, but there’s really nothing like the mix of emotional connection and healthy rivalry that comes from meeting and accepting someone on a parallel road. Look Back is about friendship and passion, and the mutual devotion that ties these together. For Fujino and Kyomoto, the socially divergent girls at the story’s epicenter, that bond is formed around sequential art, but the same story could revolve around any number of liberal pursuits: music, literature, film, dance... anywhere inspiration grows, frantic and ravenous. That fire usually burns awfully bright, though, and emotions can often bite, as is the eventual case for our girls. After years of close, fruitful accord, they hit the rocks and grow apart. This will pose another familiar question for those of us who identify: can our work stand on its own, or were we taking more than we gave to that fractured relationship? Self-doubt is a powerful influence amongst poets. We follow the plot through fleeting peeks and glimpses that tell just enough to let the story breathe. Resonant moments in time that will linger in the girls’ memories (and, perhaps, our own) forever. The film’s artwork is suitably matched: simple and slight but potently expressive, like a charming haiku. Its ability to capture these characters, the pain of their shifting moods and the majesty of their little corners of the world, is wonderfully efficient. No wasted motions, neither in the telling nor the illustration. Look Back may run for just fifty-eight minutes, but it’s fuller than most movies that go twice as long.

Итог Для короткого тайтла — норм. Рисовка крутая, драматизма хватает, но по глубине это больше "вот вам печальная история", чем реальный "шедевр". Глянуть один раз можно, но пересматривать? Ну, такое. Короче, 5/10. Душевно, но переоценено.

(Mauro Lanari) "The Butterfly Effect" poster and countless ("Sliding") doors within the world of mangaka and hikikomori: the idea that art's purpose, in a meta-narrative reflection, is to rewrite existence strikes me as at least childishly presumptuous.