This movie surprised me completely. It deals with topics that we've seen many times such as child abuse, alcoholism, teenage relationships and juveniles breaking the law. But this is only the surface of the plot and the means of which it contemplates it's main theme. The main theme as I now see it, is the negative side of adulthood hitting a child. This might not sound in anyway peculiar but it's in the delivery that makes it so special.
At first I thought the movie's main function was probably to deliver cheap thrills, raise sympathy in the easiest way, speak against domestic violence, tell a moral story or to portray some typical teenage drama. Before the last minutes I still wasn't sure what to make of it, as it seemed to end without any final conclusion. But then when the ending came it blew me away, even if the viewer guessed what was going to happen long before. The point wasn't about what happened, but how it happened and what we got to know about the main character. Who is this guy? Is he a manipulative scoundrel? A hero that saves his little sister? A criminal that learns a crucial lesson? We don't know this for sure before the last scenes.
He secretly drinks whiskey, he keeps a bat in his room but doesn't dare to use it, his relationship with Noriko is almost nonsexual. This is (at least how I think it) because sexuality belongs to the adult world that he sees threatening. When he hears the not so dreadful moans of his mother he doesn't know how to react. He is embarrassed for the sake of his sister and mother when he hears his real father Sone masturbating, never mind that his sister later hints that he himself is doing it too. In away, I'd say, that Sone represents Shuuichis darker adult side and it is also that what he fights against. Ironically he uses the same means as Sone, force and hatred to solve the problem. He fights fire with fire. He is trying to protect his childhood but by doing it, ends it himself.
One theme of Blue Light is the lack of a father character for a growing boy. He was the only male in the house for 10 years. His teachers seemed to be portrayed either as formally distant or blatantly uninterested in the students. The only one who shows interest in him is the detective, but by then it's too late, as the damage has already been done.
For me, Noriko isn't important as a real girl but as an idealization of childhood innocence with her naive answers and the talking dog. At the end of the movie she is crying. Again I take this as a metaphor. Innonce is gone, a broken childhood. While she is holding back tears the main character's list of favorite things is narrated. Here he finally reveals himself. He was not a hero nor a bad guy, just a typical teenager with his little enjoyments in life (with a hint of soon beginning adulthood). After all the schemes Shuuichi pulled and all the lies he told, the knowledge that he was at he same time insecure and vulnerable made me feel an emotive connection that I haven't felt watching movies in a long time.
There's also an interesting detail about the use of blue light. Every time Shuuichi is portrayed in blue light, whether it's the night time in his room, the seaside dock or the public aquarium, he is at his most vulnerable and honest state. Other times he always masks himself with lies or dismisses the uncomfortable topics with jokes and daily phrases. Noriko even paints him with blue background, a hint maybe, that she likes him that way.
At first I thought the movie's main function was probably to deliver cheap thrills, raise sympathy in the easiest way, speak against domestic violence, tell a moral story or to portray some typical teenage drama. Before the last minutes I still wasn't sure what to make of it, as it seemed to end without any final conclusion. But then when the ending came it blew me away, even if the viewer guessed what was going to happen long before. The point wasn't about what happened, but how it happened and what we got to know about the main character. Who is this guy? Is he a manipulative scoundrel? A hero that saves his little sister? A criminal that learns a crucial lesson? We don't know this for sure before the last scenes.
He secretly drinks whiskey, he keeps a bat in his room but doesn't dare to use it, his relationship with Noriko is almost nonsexual. This is (at least how I think it) because sexuality belongs to the adult world that he sees threatening. When he hears the not so dreadful moans of his mother he doesn't know how to react. He is embarrassed for the sake of his sister and mother when he hears his real father Sone masturbating, never mind that his sister later hints that he himself is doing it too. In away, I'd say, that Sone represents Shuuichis darker adult side and it is also that what he fights against. Ironically he uses the same means as Sone, force and hatred to solve the problem. He fights fire with fire. He is trying to protect his childhood but by doing it, ends it himself.
One theme of Blue Light is the lack of a father character for a growing boy. He was the only male in the house for 10 years. His teachers seemed to be portrayed either as formally distant or blatantly uninterested in the students. The only one who shows interest in him is the detective, but by then it's too late, as the damage has already been done.
For me, Noriko isn't important as a real girl but as an idealization of childhood innocence with her naive answers and the talking dog. At the end of the movie she is crying. Again I take this as a metaphor. Innonce is gone, a broken childhood. While she is holding back tears the main character's list of favorite things is narrated. Here he finally reveals himself. He was not a hero nor a bad guy, just a typical teenager with his little enjoyments in life (with a hint of soon beginning adulthood). After all the schemes Shuuichi pulled and all the lies he told, the knowledge that he was at he same time insecure and vulnerable made me feel an emotive connection that I haven't felt watching movies in a long time.
There's also an interesting detail about the use of blue light. Every time Shuuichi is portrayed in blue light, whether it's the night time in his room, the seaside dock or the public aquarium, he is at his most vulnerable and honest state. Other times he always masks himself with lies or dismisses the uncomfortable topics with jokes and daily phrases. Noriko even paints him with blue background, a hint maybe, that she likes him that way.