Like Grains of Sand (1995)
"Nagisa no Shindobaddo" (original title)

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 ... See full summary »

Director:

Ryosuke Hashiguchi

Writer:

Ryosuke Hashiguchi

Stars:

Yoshinori Okada, Ayumi Hamasaki, Kouji Yamaguchi

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yoshinori Okada	...	Shuji Ito
Ayumi Hamasaki	...	Kasane Aihara
Kouji Yamaguchi	...	Touru Kanbara
Kumi Takada	...	Ayako Shimizu
Shizuka Isami	...	Rika Matsuo
Kouta Kusano	...	Hiroyuki Yoshida
Yoshihiko Hakamada	...	Fujita
Bang-ho Cho	...	Teacher
Miyako Yamaguchi	...	Ms. Yoshida
Toshie Negishi	...	Ms. Nezu
Kunio Murai	...	Shuji's Father
Hiroko Anzai
Kenichiro Samejima
Kazumi Ikeda
Chiharu Ishikawa	...	Noriko Yoshida

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

love | japanese | friend | teenager | school | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

16 December 1995 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Like Grains of Sand

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Mortal Kombat (1995)

User Reviews

Implausible and too lengthy unnecessary pictorial sequences.

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.