Chihayafuru: Part I

Norihiro Koizumi's 2016 Japanese film, adapted from the manga of the same name, centres on competitive karuta. Chihaya was separated as a child from the two friends she played the game with; at high school she starts a club and hopes to find them again. Karuta rests on memorising classical Japanese poems and matching them at speed, and the film shoots it like a sport: reflex, sound and the speed of a hand. That choice makes something that would look static from outside into a spectacle. Suzu Hirose's performance is energetic. Because the story is split into two films there is no conclusion here, and some characters are not opened enough. Who it's for: viewers who like Japanese films about young people and sports stories. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a story that finishes in one film, or who will find the cultural context hard to follow.