Back Review - Kurida's Hymn to Friendship, Manga and Artistic Success

Two obsessive artists unite to achieve their dreams, but then their dreams diverge. Hirokazu Kureda's sad and beautiful film is about friendship, about the exhilaration of success and what it means to have an artistic career, especially when it's pursued jointly with your best friend. Kore-eda is adapted from an independent online manga or "one-shot" story of the same title by Tatsuki Fujimoto, who is actually already a

H irokazu Kore-eda's sad and beautiful film is about friendship, about the exhilaration of success, and about what it means to have an artistic career, especially when it's pursued jointly with your best friend. Kurida is adapted from an independent online manga or "one-shot" story of the same title by Tatsuki Fujimoto, which actually already had an animated film adaptation.

Fujino, played by Furi Nanase as a 13-year-old and later by Natsuki Deguchi, is a would-be manga artist who aspires to be published and adapted into films. His personal and artistic destiny is to connect in early adolescence with the manga-obsessed Kiyomoto, played first by Ruka Okada and then as an adult by Ajo Makita. Their story is a kind of platonic but passionate love story.

Fujino begins the story as someone who is very pleased with himself. At school, he has become a virtual celebrity for his simple four-frame Yonkuma manga strips in the class magazine. But then her homeroom teacher tells her that she's giving space to a regular manga about another girl named Kiyomoto who suffers from anxiety and never comes to school. Kiyomoto's work amazes Fujino. It seems that he (and all his classmates) are clearly better than him. His own work was simply about figures and dialogue and story. Kiyomoto is more concerned with the background environment – ​​landscapes and still-life-type landscapes are far superior.

Fujino is like a Mozart suddenly turned into a Salieri. He more or less gives up manga at that point and pursues sports, especially karate, intensely. When, at the end of the semester, his teacher asks him to leave Kiyomoto's graduation certificate at his house—the Korean course playfully lets us see the teacher trying to engineer a friendship between the two young men—Fujino is angry and reluctant. He goes there intending to drop the goods and leave, but a mishap means they meet face to face and Kiyomoto emotionally calls him "Sensei" and says that he is her biggest fan. Fujino happily resumes drawing and they become soulmates and partners, becoming a manga creator, an ideal team, winning awards and commissions. Fujino designs the story and background characters while Kiyomoto's considered art creates a mood and deep emotional context.

But just as they are progressing, their careers are taking off at a dizzying pace that other, older artists can only dream of... Kiyomoto says he wants to quit and go to art college to become a better artist while he still has enough time, enough humility to learn. Fujino is furious and the break between them is more painful and important than any romantic relationship.

Kureda shows us that this leads to heartbreak, and a kind of sad "sliding doors" feeling about how things could have been different, how Fujino could have redeemed himself as a lesser artist. Fujino wants to reach the past and change things: and in a sense that's what artists do, especially those whose work is intensely personal or autobiographical. They look back, retrace their steps to the source of their inspiration, the source of the meaning of their lives. They see the form and substance of experiences which at the time they could not understand the meaning of.

Or maybe it's that they create form and substance and impose it on the past. Looking back is a noble and vital gesture, but outside the realm of art it is bitter and pointless. You cannot change anything by looking back. This is just a forum for grief and regret. Such is the emotional dynamic of this fascinating and moving film from Korea Yeda, a film of high clarity, intimacy and seriousness.

Look Back was screened at the London Film Festival.