Four out of
Five stars
Running time:
110 mins
This ambitious Japanese drama from Keiichi Kobayashi is truly mesmerising, thanks to charismatic performances, a charming and unique female lead, cool visuals and strong and gently funny adolescent dialogue.
What’s it all about?
Written and directed by Keiichi Kobayashi, About The Pink Sky tells the story of Izumi (Ai Ikeda), a Japanese high school student, who puts herself in a moral dilemma when she finds a wallet containing a large sum of cash. Convinced by her fickle friends Hasumi (Ena Koshino) and Kaoru (Reiko Fujiwara), to return the wallet back to its owner, a rich and attractive teenage boy named Sato Koki, (Tsubasa Takayama), Izumi finds herself in hot water as she has already lent a large portion of the money to her fisherman friend suffering financial difficulty. When Koki eventually finds out about the missing money, he pressgangs Izumi and her friends into helping him create a newspaper filled with only good news to cheer up his friend in hospital.
The Good
Presented in a soft monochrome visual style, About The Pink Sky is truly enchanting throughout, presenting a coming of age story with a likeable and quirky lead. Ai Ikeda is truly wonderful and charismatic as the sometimes-sulky Izumi and the supporting cast are all perfectly convincing as they vocally and physically bounce off each other in the petulant childish way you would expect. The adolescent dialogue is cute and gently funny and the film’s deficiency in music is barely noticeable, thanks to a strong narrative and arresting cinematography.
The Bad
Although About The Pink Sky is visually captivating, you can’t help but wonder if the film could have benefited from some colour, particularly in its final scene, which relies on vibrant visuals to breathe life into the film’s significant and eloquent conclusion. Finally, whilst Izumi’s sickly sweet smile makes her oddly endearing at times, her regular high-pitched schoolgirl squeals run the risk of coming across as nauseating to some viewers.
Worth seeing?
If you can put up with the schoolgirl squeals, About The Pink Sky is a must-watch Japanese drama with endearing characters and a strong narrative. Recommended.