After filming a series of short films to follow his brutal and haunting teen drama All About Lily Chou Chou, Shunji Iwai returns to feature films with a lighter side of teen romance that still maintains his expertise at honest portrayals. Shot on HD video, Hana and Alice captures Iwai’s singular mood perfectly, taking a gimmicky love triangle premise and turning it into an endearing, sweet, free-form dramaedy that despite a slightly overlong running time, gives its viewers a story that means something and cute characters that are impossible not to like.
Like Lily Chou Chou, Hana and Alice takes place at that cusp of junior high and high school, where childish impulses linger among newfound feelings of love and the responsibilities of growing up. The story begins when Hana and Alice, while hopping around trains, take notice of a handsome student, Masashi Miyamoto at their school. Later, Hana—after developing a considerable crush—joins the high school drama club with Miyamoto. On the way home, she follows him until he walks headfirst into a slightly lowered garage door and crashes to the floor, confused. Hana rushes to his aid in his bewilderment, questions him to see if he remembers things, and then decides to falsely alert him of his severe memory loss. She informs him that she is his girlfriend whom he confessed his love to, and is willing to wait until he regains memory of that occasion. Soon, Alice also finds that she also has feelings for Miyamoto and the situation gets complicated.
Yet, despite the premise that would surely lead to “zany” situations in a Hollywood flick, Hana and Alice tells a simple story with a keen understanding of real teenage characters—no exaggerated one-dimensional traits are in sight. Like he does in Lily, Iwai sets up a distinct and mature mood with his low-key score, soft visual style and dreamy color palette. He manages a visual blend that perfectly matches and enhances his coming-of-age themes--the digital camera and location shooting give the film a “realer,” more mature look than film, but Iwai contrasts it with softer, unreal shots evocative of childlike innocence and nostalgia. The care for such a complex effect shows.
In the actual plot, Hana and Alice encounter the same difficulties, acknowledging their transition to adulthood and approaching their Miyamoto relationships with such sincerity that it feels more like a legitimate adult romance than a silly bit of puppy love. However, fragments of immaturity and childishness appear in the little games the girls still play and of course, the fact that they are manipulating Miyamoto’s memory for selfish reasons. The film has the versatility to oscillate between comedy and drama with nary a misstep, and its sympathetic characters are all quite likeable. Anne Suzuki and Yu Aoi play their parts marvelously, handling every moment between the cute and the dramatic ones with natural performances.
Hana and Alice’s only major problem is in its lengthy running time on account of a second act full of filler. Sure, it is vital to the story because the substance of the love triangle comes to form, but the scriptwriting occasionally feels a little bland (and uneven in its looks at both Hana and Alice). The middle act avoids plenty of complications—especially in the inevitable rivalry that would occur between the two leads, and it drags a bit instead of digging deeper. The film is, for the most part, still consistently entertaining, but viewers need not expect anything as powerful and hard-hitting as Lily. Iwai just gives us touching, compelling characters and tells a fine story, making something of substance out of so little.
Reviewed by Tarun
