Commencing well-respected Nippon director Kazuo Kuroki's sixth decade behind the camera, "A Boy's Summer in 1945" (literally "A Beautiful Summer in Kirishima") is a lyric, novelistic drama set in the countryside in the last days before Japan's surrender ending WWII. Striking a welcome retro note in its languid pacing and delicate handling of seriocomic ensemble threads, handsome production is a natural for fests. It might also prove a cornerstone for retrospectives or ancillary releases of works by a helmer ("Preparation of the Festival," "Ronin-gai") who's long been appreciated at home but has won just limited attention abroad.
Genre: Drama
Stars: Tasuku Emoto, Yoshio Harada, Tokie Hidari, Wakaba Irie, Eri Ishida, Teruyuki Kagawa
Crew: Kazuo Kuroki (Writer), Kazuo Kuroki (Director), Masataka Matsuda (Writer), Teizō Matsumura (Original Music Composer), Toshihiro Isomi (Production Design), Masahiro Hara (Assistant Director)
Country: Japan
Language: 日本語
Studio: Rumble Fish
Runtime: 118 minutes
Quality: HD
Released: Dec 14, 2002
IMDb: 5.7
