Akarui mirai (2003)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writer:

Kiyoshi Kurosawa (writer)

Release Date:

3 December 2003 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Two young guys work in a plant that manufactures oshibori (those moist hand-towels found in some Japanese restaurants)...

Plot Keywords:

Jellyfish | Dream | Employer Employee Relationship | Assault | Father Son Relationship

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Jô Odagiri	...	Yûji Nimura
Tadanobu Asano	...	Mamoru Arita
Tatsuya Fuji	...	Shin'ichirô Arita
Takashi Sasano	...	Mr. Fujiwara
Marumi Shiraishi	...	Mrs. Fujiwara
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hanawa	...	Ken Takagi
Hideyuki Kasahara	...	Shin
Ryo Kase	...	Fuyuki Arita
Miyako Kawahara
Chiaki Kominami	...	Kaori Fujiwara
Ken'ichi Matsuyama	...	Jun
Yoshiyuki Morishita	...	Mori
Sayuri Oyamada	...	Miho Nimura
Ryô	...	Lawyer
Sakichi Satô	...	Manager of Recycle Shop
Tetsu Sawaki	...	Kei

Directed by
Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa		writer

Produced by
Takashi Asai	....	producer
Itaru Fujimoto	....	associate producer
Sadayuki Iwase	....	co-producer
Harumi Noshita	....	co-producer
Masafumi Odawara	....	executive producer
Nobuhiko Sakoh	....	executive producer
Kenji Takahara	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Shigeomi Hasumi		(as Pacific 231)
Takemasa Miyake

Cinematography by
Takahide Shibanushi

Film Editing by
Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Production Design by
Yasuaki Harada

Art Direction by
James David Goldmark

Costume Design by
Michiko Kitamura

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tomohiro Kubo	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Hiromichi Kori	....	sound
Masatoshi Saito	....	sound effects editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Koichi Kuroda	....	still photographer

Other crew
Linda Hoaglund	....	subtitler: English

Production Companies

• Digital Site Corporation
• Klock Worx Co.
• Uplink Co.
• Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (YTV)

Distributors

• UPLINK Company (2003) (Japan) (all media)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2004) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Ad Vitam Distribution (France)
• Palm Pictures (2004) (USA) (all media)

Also Known As:

Bright Future (International: English title) (USA)

Runtime:

France:92 min (Cannes Film Festival) | Japan:115 min | USA:92 min | South Korea:115 min (DVD version) | UK:88 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo

Certification:

UK:12 | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:12

Company:

Digital Site Corporation

Trivia:

The large group of jellyfish in the Tokyo River was filmed in an aquarium and digitally added to the film.

Quotes:

Mamoru Arita: Nimura, here's the plan.
[thumb toward the breast piece]
Mamoru Arita: When I do this, it means "Wait".
[thumb and the index finger toward the outside piece]
Mamoru Arita: And this means "Go ahead".

Delicate.

The high vote I gave this movie is partly relative--there just isn't much on the shelves these days that isn't tiresome (so I tend to gravitate towards anything that isn't a sequel or remake). So if this film is guilty of anything, it's guilty of being delicate and intelligent. The characters are so subtle they almost escape one's grasp but this isn't a loss and shouldn't deter anyone from watching it. I enjoy thinking back on it now and pondering Yuji, the main character, and his relation to the jellyfish.

It is also worthy to note that the visuals aren't overly stylized--they were incredibly detailed and balanced. I liked that I felt increasingly familiar with their world the further the movie went. That must have been very hard to pull off since most movies that re-use scenery like that turn out repetitious. The backgrounds here seem lived in, and judging from the part of the behind-the-scenes that I watched it was filmed in realistic locations.

Asano is interesting in this one, not that he usually isn't, but his character seemed far more complex than I expected with each new line of dialog. This movie and the careful construction was so nicely stacked like a house of cards I was almost afraid to breathe in case I would miss something.