Kagen no tsuki (2004)

Do you believe in love after death? On the eve of her 19th birthday, Mizuki (Kuriyama) doesn't have a lot to celebrate about. Her mother recently committed suicide, her stepfamily bothers ... See full summary »

Director:

Ken Nikai

Writers:

Ken Nikai, Ai Yazawa (comic)

Stars:

Chiaki Kuriyama, Hiroki Narimiya, Tomoka Kurokawa

Cast

Credited cast:
Chiaki Kuriyama	...	Mizuki Mochizuki
Hiroki Narimiya	...	Tomoki Anzai
Tomoka Kurokawa	...	Hotaru Shiraishi
Motoki Ochiai	...	Masaki Miura
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Simon Britton	...	Evil Eye Bassist
Hyde	...	Adam
Ayumi Itô	...	Sayaka Kamijo
Takanori Jinnai
Reika Kirishima
Maki Meguro
Anna Nakagawa	...	Sayaka's mother
Ken Ogata	...	Doujima
Nao Ohmori	...	(as Nao Ômori)
Christopher Pellegrini	...	Assistant Director
Sakura

Storyline

Do you believe in love after death? On the eve of her 19th birthday, Mizuki (Kuriyama) doesn't have a lot to celebrate about. Her mother recently committed suicide, her stepfamily bothers her, her boyfriend has been cheating on her and her best friend has betrayed her. Hurt and disillusioned, Mizuki runs from everything and is drawn by some unknown force to a dilapidated estate. Deep within the house Mizuki discovers the mysterious Adam (Hyde), playing a hauntingly familiar melody on the guitar. Melancholy and full of secrets, it seems that Adam, and the house, have a strange, irresistible link to Mizuki. Can Mizuki's boyfriend and a couple of well-meaning schoolchildren uncover the secret of what happened 19 years ago and free Mizuki before the last quarter of the moon falls?

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Plot Keywords:

based on comic | based on manga | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

9 October 2004 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Last Quarter

Filming Locations:

Japan

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,577,524

Company Credits

Production Co:

BB Cable, Big Shot, If Entertainment

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS-Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

A good movie, maybe, to those it's meant for, but not me.

I'm sorry for perhaps unfairly skewing the rating on this film by giving it two stars, but I could barely sit through it. I don't think it is necessarily a poorly made film. but it's a film clearly targeted at Asian early- and pre-teens with the inclusion of super-secretive Japanese rock star "Hyde" in a prominent, though not leading, role. Every time he appeared on screen I would roll my eyes and groan because he looked like a Keith Partridge wannabe trying to appear tough by smoking cigarettes. He might be a talented musician but he's a terrible actor, at least in this film.

The rest of the cast did a credible job. Model, actress, and hair-do, Chiaki Kuriyama is always refreshing on screen. Western audiences may recognize her as Gogo from Quentin Tarentino's Kill Bill Vol 1. She appears to play the piano quite well, vamping on the film's musical theme, "Last Quarter", a couple times. I liked the theme a lot, but in the end this modern fairy-tale was just too sugar-coated and precious for my aged sensibility.