Like Grains of Sand
(1995)
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Like Grains of Sand
(1995)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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Yoshinori Okada | ... |
Shuji Ito
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Ayumi Hamasaki | ... |
Kasane Aihara
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Kouji Yamaguchi | ... |
Touru Kanbara
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Kumi Takada | ... |
Ayako Shimizu
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Shizuka Isami | ... |
Rika Matsuo
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Kouta Kusano | ... |
Hiroyuki Yoshida
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Yoshihiko Hakamada | ... |
Fujita
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Bang-ho Cho | ... |
Teacher
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Miyako Yamaguchi | ... |
Ms. Yoshida
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Toshie Negishi | ... |
Ms. Nezu
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Kunio Murai | ... |
Shuji's Father
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Hiroko Anzai |
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Kenichiro Samejima |
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Kazumi Ikeda |
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Chiharu Ishikawa | ... |
Noriko Yoshida
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Fortunately this film isn't just another repetition of the Japanese highschool drama genre - even though all characters are students and a reference to bullying is not missing. Instead, we witness the very complex relationships between Yoshida, leaving Shimizu for Aihara (or at least he tries to), and his friend Ito, whose love for Yoshida seems to have little chance for success. In the end we have a coalition of Ito and Aihara - who may or may not be in love with Ito (or with Yoshida, who knows) - teaching Yoshida a lesson. This is not a film about homosexuality either, indeed one message of the film may be that it doesn't matter if a boy loves a boy or a girl. Anyway, the complexity (even incomprehensibility) of the motivations of the characters is a most realistic and just reflection of the motivations of modern Japanese teenagers. Or in other words: the film captures exactly the same thing which Banana Yoshimoto describes in her novels; what it is however, is very difficult to say. Written by Hartmut G. Ziche
I don't think the main idea was so bad, but the plot was completely implausible and awful. Moreover, this movie was merely a lengthy sequence of CM films, a kind of sports drink. The whole movie was too long and dull to continue seeing-should have been much shorter.