Hirokazu Kore-eda Adapts Tatsuki Fujimoto Manga Look Back at Venice

Hirokazu Kore-eda's live-action feature adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga 'Look Back,' screened in competition at the Venice Film Festival, draws critical attention for its runtime and tonal fidelity, according to reviews from outlets including IndieWire, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Vulture, Deadline, The Film Stage, South China Morning Post, and Dayton Daily News. ### Kore-eda Brings Humanism to Fujimoto's Manga Adaptation The live-action 'Look Back' runs 100 minutes, doubling the length of Kiyotaka Oshiyama's 53-minute anime film, yet it achieves the same visceral dimension regarding the time it takes to create versus consume art. Like the anime and Tatsuki Fujimoto's original manga, Hirokazu Kore-eda's drama follows two schoolgirls in western Japan bonded by comics. The fourth-grade protagonist Fujino, played expressively through her tweenage years by Furi Nanase, draws yonkoma cartoons for the school newspaper. Her confidence is rattled when an anxious shut-in named Kyomoto begins submitting her own strips. While Kyomoto's work lacks Fujino's wit, it compensates with careful linework and background detail, sparking a heated rivalry that blossoms into a collaboration when Fujino delivers a diploma to Kyomoto's barren home. ### From Rivalry to Creative Partnership in Semi-Rural Japan Working under the alias 'Kyo Fujino,' the girls hole up in Fujino's bedroom to become prolific manga artists. The actors are seamlessly recast with Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita as the characters grow up. The story is set in the small city of Nikaho, a semi-rural idyll where Fujimoto grew up. While Kore-eda's visual style is limpid, it serves his humanism. The film's sound design features the sound of graphite on paper alongside Yuta Bandoh's score and digital pencil noises, paired with the director's focus on seasonal changes. ### Critical Reception Across Major Outlets Reviewers note the near-absence of adults in the film, where characters out of school age are marginalized. The initial preciousness of the children's world can create a barrier, but the film hits points of transcendence. Fujino's mother feeds the family and cleans house, while Kyomoto's mother is barely glimpsed, leaving some ambiguity over whether the withdrawn girl is real or a figment of Fujino's imagination. After high school, Kyomoto wants to go to art school instead of accepting a series offer from a Shueisha editor, leading to a betrayal felt by Fujino. Coverage from IndieWire, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Vulture, Deadline, The Film Stage, South China Morning Post, and Dayton Daily News spans the adaptation, red carpet events, and themes of ghosts, though subsequent release dates and distribution details beyond the Venice competition screening are not yet specified. Related