Reviews

The first minutes of the medium-length film are rather slow, putting more emphasis on the sublime twilight landscapes than on the protagonists. The heroine, Sachi, is a 17-year-old girl who is a violin enthusiast, in the midst of her quest for identity, but who doesn't really seem interested in social relationships. She has her own music club, and that's enough for her. Rather introverted, she likes to enjoy simple things alone, such as sunsets. The narration, from her point of view, is initially enough to try to understand the high school student and her way of seeing the world. Her meeting with Kiji, a boy her age, will (of course) upset her tidy daily life. An artist too, he paints in his spare time, and seems to have the same passion as Sachi for twilight. Inevitably, they both fall in love. Their romance is rather cute, although there is nothing original about it. Its evolution is predictable despite some "twists". We could have blamed it on the format of the film, namely a medium-length film, which doesn't have time to develop this one. But the romance, somewhat rushed, is not the only one to have been botched in the end. Above all, what interested me in Hakubo was the willingness of the director and the studio to highlight the March 2011 catastrophe that hit Japan, and particularly Fukushima. So one could imagine that the story would naturally take place after these sad events, telling the traumas resulting from them on the inhabitants of the region. But it is not, or almost not. So yes, Sachi seems to be marked by the earthquake and what came after it. However, we only learn about it because his sister talks about it, otherwise it is not obvious. For Kiji, the trauma is indeed more present. But the film once again hovers over this intrigue which, however, could have given Hakubo a boost. The medium-length film would have needed it, because apart from the romance, not much happens. Beyond the romance and the failed message that Yamamoto Yutaka wanted to convey about the March 2011 drama, there is little left to say about Hakubo. Apart from the main couple, the other characters are only extras and bring nothing to the plot. Nevertheless, we will retain Hii, Sachi's very annoying friend, whom we can't help but hate so much because she is so selfish and unbearable. But that's all. On the other hand, I really appreciated the simple and soft atmosphere in which the film plunges us, with a certain serenity which emerges from it. The soundtrack is effective, with violin pieces in perfect harmony with the visuals, and above all, the sumptuous representations of the sky. Special mention for the ending Tooku interpreted with great delicacy by Azuma Hitomi. If the sets are indeed rather successful, the animation can leave one skeptical. There is a certain contrast between the shades of colors of the sky worked with precision and the rather singular chara-design. The facial expressions are hardly perceptible, especially the smiles. And the animation is sometimes very (too) fast and sometimes almost static. This is a pity. I won't go as far as to say that Hakubo is bad. Let's say that it is a nice entertainment but very far from being transcendental. I didn't have high expectations for the movie, but it still left me disappointed and somewhat frustrated. The poetry of the beginning fades very quickly in favor of boredom, all the more so since the romance, the real interest of the film, turns out to be tasteless and above all dispatched. Above all, the director's initial message, that one must continue to live after a drama, has completely faded away. A beautiful waste.