Program Note
Amiko is not uncomfortable in the spotlight. She’s outspoken and has a slightly different emotional code, but she’s sensitive enough to pray for her beetle, Tommy, and her goldfish every day, and kind enough to give her classmate, Nori, a chocolate-covered cookie having only licked off the chocolate. But when her family of four unexpectedly encounters a tragic event, life begins to change. What are the strange noises on the veranda? Will the yellow walkie-talkie be answered? Will her beloved Nori open up to her? If you think this will probably be a conventional movie with picturesque locations, think again. Like a box of candy, you can’t decide which one to pick. Morii Yusuke’s ambitious debut subverts common lyrical coming-of-age movie clichés one by one, from the very beginning. You’ll find yourself with a smile on your face and a tear in the corner of your eye as you are put under the spell of Osawa Kana, who seems to have taken the two main characters from Dorris Dorrie’s Nobody Loves Me and Jean- Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie from Montmartre, and turned them into pre-teens.(HONG Sanghyun)