Hana to Alice

Feels like it's meant for an audience of young girls, like a Judy Blume novel or something. It's a fine film, very well shot with two nice lead characters... but there just isn't a whole lot to it. Fairly typical coming-of-age story, melded with a romantic comedy premise that's rather silly.

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I love two female protagonist movies, especially ones that make me feel nostalgic. Hana and Alice some great visuals, endearing sountrack and lively performances by Aoi and Suzuki. Every shot oozes out youthful energy and the humor, sparse and subtle works perfectly. Untouched by adult sensibilities, Hana and Alice feels like a childhood dream I wanted to have.

The world seen through the eyes of teenagers, the beauty-in-weirdness idiosyncrasies of Iwai, and most importantly, the lens of cinematographer Noboru Shinoda.

Though at some moments you start developing some affection for the the main characters (specially Alice, best character there) it's not that easy considering their acting, and also the movie doesn't achieve a decent technical result (photography and editing specially). It seems too long and full of dull and irrelevant moments that spoil the pace, it would work better in a shorter cut. Just decent, I would recommend the prequel over this one undoubtly.

3rd viewing

When Aoi Yu dances, it is beautiful.