Movielogr
Asako I & II (2018)
Directed by Ryūsuke Hamaguchi
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
Asako lives in Osaka. She falls in love with Baku, a free-spirit. One day, Baku suddenly disappears. Two years later, Asako now lives in Tokyo and meets Ryohei. He looks just like Baku, but has a completely different personality.
Rated PG-13 | Length 119 minutes
Actors
Erika Karata | Masahiro Higashide | Rio Yamashita | Sairi Itoh | Kôji Seto | Daichi Watanabe | Kôji Nakamoto | Misako Tanaka | Takeshi Onishi | Ariei Umefune | Nao Okabe | Atsushi Kaneshige | Takao Kin | Maki Nishiyama | Atsushi Honma | Tatsuo Kobayashi | Ryotaro Yonemura | Fusako Urabe
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/01/2021 | TV | Streaming | Video on Demand | 7.5 stars |
| (Average) 7.5 stars |
Viewing Notes
Features one of the best on-screen cats, Jintan. You know it’s a good animal performance when it makes me want one.
Damn. This is gutpunch twist of the knife shit esp. for a what’s basically a YA story. Not sure whether to be more impressed that director Hamaguchi pulled me into his movie so easily or he used the same actors for each period of time across eight or so years when they all look exactly the same. The timeline starts in late 2008 or early 2009 in Osaka then advances two years to Tokyo when 3/11 occurs then jumps forward again.
Erika Karata is perfect for the titular character. She has this vacancy about her performance in that you are never sure what she is thinking. And it works. She’s super attractive but not in an overpowering or glamorous way. Just right for this character. She was 19 or 20 during production so her performance is even more impressive.
Masahiro Higashide is also a great actor here doing double duty and emoting in response to Karata’s Asako. Solid supporting cast, too, even tho I don’t buy one of the developments between two of the characters. Overall a fascinating story that feels like a anime feature done in live action yet totally believable. Now I want to read the book.
Glad that MUBI has this one now bc it looks so good. Kanopy got it a long time ago and I was tempted to view it there bc I wanted to see it but I knew it wouldn’t look so hot.
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