I have mixed feelings about this movie

Frustration, fear, suspense, disgust, and surprise.

Should you watch it? If you want to feel dread and at times screaming “noooo!”, then yes.

The music score here just existed, it was pretty generic.

The cinematography was pretty simple but effective, it portrayed the atmosphere quite well. At times it felt, that it would’ve worked better as a horror movie because then they could've explored more intense feelings and even go through a grotesque route. Oh well...

The premise seemed interesting: two women make a contract, that the pregnant one, will give the baby to the infertile one. They move into the house in the middle of nowhere, so both women could safely observe pregnancy. Unexpected things happen.

Both women looked happy with each other and would’ve had a sisterly bond, but men in their lives (both of their lovers, as well as ruthless hunters) were quite disgusting about it. Except one, the painter, which was like a protector of the vacation house, where both women stayed.

Men here were written as threatening, and the worst part is, they are believable. They treat women as rabbits for sex, men here are lustful and see women as objects. In this movie, men do not care about boundaries. (except one - the painter, which was protecting them, but then again it was implied he was into them as well).

I disliked the ending. It felt empty. I know that both women have developed, but they stayed in the same situation, with same men they started out with (yet I believe that they will learn to be independent at some point). Are they happy? It’s for a viewer to decide. My interpretation: No, not really.

Change is scary, and it is hard to leave established relationships. So hard, that one might start believing that there is a no different path, so the only way to cope is to please them and to find people which can fill the void.

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Tragedy of daughters that want to please their mothers

It's a character study of two characters' - mother and daughter, both of them try to please their mothers, disregarding their own feelings. This movie shines in the character department, all of them feel real and flawed. The soundtrack and cinematography create a picturesque atmosphere, which contrasts with the unhealthy dynamics of our main characters.

If you enjoy psychological character studies and generational tragedies - this one is for you.

The story has three segments:

First one: Memories of mother (we see how she meets her husband and her interactions with her mother, she displays people-pleasing tendencies and urges to always agree with her mother), none of her choice was because she wanted it. Marrying or having a daughter, she did it all because it would make her mother happy. She wanted to be a good daughter. This character showcases how dreadful lives of people pleasers become and how their attitude to please everyone (especially authority figures like mother) brings pain to everyone around them.

Second segment: Memories of a daughter (how she is living with mother that doesn't love her and from young days notices that mother loves grandma more than her). The tragedy is, the grandmother provides unconditional love to her grand-daughter and that makes her mother upset. Through daughter's eyes we see how unhealthily attatched to grandmother is her mother.

This movie brought many emotions out of me - disgust, anger and sadeness. I couldn't help but show middle finger to the screen when some characters would come in. They were insufafrable, because I knew some women like that in my life.

Acting was good, it relayed unsaid emotions pretty well and it created suspense, because actors relied well, when characters' were unstable and holding in their emotions.

Soundtrack: Orchestral string music that creates a fairytale like atmosphere. I have a soft-spot for such music, thus it's always A+ when movie utilizes it well. I was a bit surprised that movie ended on "hopefully-happy" musical track, as if trying to sooth the viewer

Would I watch it again? Well- I skipped first 7 minutes accidently and started to watch from them on. After I completed a movie I returned to the beginning and was happy that I did not treat movie like a murder mystery. Because first seven minutes showcases daughter hanging from tree and audience is faced with question if mother loved her or not. So I would suggest also starting from 7th minute.

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imperfect youth and relatable love stories

For anyone that likes well-written characters and not your cliche plotlines. At times it was painfully realistic and made me remember my first relationship. This movie caught the essence of youthful love, the emotions of it, awkwardness, and coziness.

It follows three couples as they experience first love, break-up, and even grief. There was a storyline for friendship, as well, which played out as wholesome.

Characters were my favorite part of this movie. All of them were distinct and showed different aspects of their personality as the movie went on.

Kosaka Rei and Shikano Nana's relationship was my favorite, perhaps it was relatable. Rei showed his affection through his actions, even if his words were mean at times.

Another highlight was Kyapiko, which struggled with loving yourself and tried to find love in others. She was faking her cute demeanor, and yet had a delightful best friend which cared for her.

The cinematography made it realistic, continuous shots made the viewer feel as if they were experiencing events as they happened to the characters. The relationships weren't glamorized, it made me remember the days when I was too with friends and crushes fooling around.

I disliked music in this movie because at times it felt out of place. Thankfully most of the movie used natural sound, which helped with immersion.

Should you watch it? Yes, if you want to reminiscence about your high school or even university days, and experience imperfect characters.

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Family dynamics were meh

I like these kinds of survival movies, where people are stuck in one location. What makes them entertaining is suspense and character progression. Yet this movie had one annoying family.

Characters: Scriptwriters why did you make a mother and daughter such useless characters? Why was father the only one that was useful? I know that for some people this bickering would seem relatable, but for me, it felt like the stereotype "man is the head of the family". Do you seriously think that daughter and mother would be helpless during such a situation?

What's the worst was constant blaming of the father for everything. It was exhausting to watch.

Sound-design and music: It was alright.

The ending was anti-climactic. Rewatch value is literal zero.

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For those that liked classic japanese horror (no jumpscares)

A mysterious box and an unlucky group of friends discover it. Our main lead - Hibiki was the only one interested in occultic things, thus can see ghosts.

The plotline is as simple as one can get, BUT it was enjoyable. The first half had a great atmosphere and visuals reminiscent of Fatal Frame II (yes that classic about two sisters, village and curse, seem familiar?). The second half and the final sadly weren't as great.

Characters were bland, but it was alright, because actors, even with minimal script shown decent emotions and somehow managed to create believable characters.

The soundtrack was spooky and created an atmosphere. It had major Jigoku Shoujo vibes. The cinematography was decent as well, with long-shots, reflections, and plenty of shadows that delightfully hide the spooks and main characters.

If anyone looking for an easy spooky time - this movie will do the trick.

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Boys find love but they don't have chemistry

Two main leads didn't share that spark (or I haven't noticed it). Perhaps authors wanted to go for realism (you might never know with whom you fall in love!), but it didn't work.

The movie was unnecessarily long and slow, there were too many empty scenes (look, bland spring scenery!), which were supposed to let viewers think about the character's decisions. But truth be told, there wasn't much to think about. There weren't even many memorable moments between our leads. Sometimes it felt, that scriptwriter had material only for 50 minutes (and this movie would've worked better as an episode 1).

The characters were alright, but I didn't care about them (This movie had 100 minutes to make me care and yet they failed).

Mitsuomi - Shy, yet caring, also want to inherit the family business. As the story progresses he becomes more genuine.

Yamato - happy-go-lucky, always wears a smile on his face, yet is clueless about social interaction. Hides pain and loneliness behind the smile (cliche, but when done right can become interesting, yet this time it was the only cliche, which was said, like exposition by other characters TWICE).

The movie had a flashback scene, it tried to symbolize how our character falls in love, but it felt lazy. The ending didn't feel organic either. Everything wrapped up so quickly. Am I supposed to believe that Yamato decided so quickly? So perhaps it didn't mean that much to him, after all? These are interesting questions, which showcase depth in characters. Pity we wasted our time on those bike rides and didn't provide the main couple with meaningful scenes. (there were plot-points, but they were just plot points).

Look, don't waste your time and grab some manga, webtoon, or check out Kinou Nani Tabeta? which shares a similar dynamic, but there characters have CHEMISTRY. Or if you want laid back stories try Rental Nan mo Shinai Hito.

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