Hana & Alice

Shunji Iwai got this film out of an advertising job. When a set of internet shorts made for Kit Kat Japan drew unexpected attention, he built a feature around the same two characters. Hana, played by Anne Suzuki, and Alice, played by Yu Aoi, have been friends since childhood, and the move to high school puts something else between them. The engine is a small lie. Hana convinces a boy she likes that he has lost his memory and tells him she is his girlfriend, and Alice gets recruited into the fiction as a supporting player. As the lie grows the balance between the two girls comes apart. Iwai does not turn this into a story of betrayal; adolescence is already continuous performance. The ballet sequence in the final section is what people remember. Alice goes to an audition with no shoes, fits paper cups onto her feet and dances. Yu Aoi performs it herself, and the whole feeling of the film gathers there. Who it is for: viewers who like Japanese films about young people and Iwai's soft, naturally lit images. Who it is not for: anyone wanting event or a clear ending.