Japan in the not-too-distant future. Buildings are gigantic viewing screens, news headlines are beamed onto clouds, and the Prime Minister seeks swingeing powers to impose societal controls.
In Tokyo, a group of teenagers attend their last year of school, if only to use the music laboratory, with its exciting electronic equipment. Their friendships survive differing levels of mental maturity and political engagement.
It is difficult to pin down a central cohesive plot for the film, but the climax, such as it is, involves the headmaster's imposition of a surveillance regime, and the reaction of non-Japanese pupils when they are excluded from a lecture by the Japanese Self-Defence Forces.
It is unusual - at least in those that make it to the West - to see a Japanese film with a multi-ethnic cast. But it is strange that while one of the characters, a fourth-generation immigrant of Korean ethnicity, is a frequent target of comments about being 'not Japanese', another of the group, who is black, never attracts such comments.
Acting honours go to Shirô Sano as the exasperated, suspicious headmaster. Other actors are competent enough, with the exception of those playing the security guard and - especially - the headmaster's aide-de-camp, who turn in slapstick performances that sit uncomfortably with the overall tone of the film.
One final thought: although the school scenes are full of extras, when the characters are out and about in the city itself, the streets and bridges on which they walk and chat are always deserted. And I always thought Tokyo was very densely populated...
