When I watched this move, I felt that Japan is a beautiful country. Filmed in provincial cities of Niigata, and Takaoka (Toyama prefecture) Blue captures the lives of two high school girls from Spring to Autumn.
The movie is beautiful in many ways, but especially in the way each scenes are shot. Director Hiroshi Ando is a veteran of directing youth oriented movies, but also has an eye for sharp clean images.
Mikako Ichikawa who played Kayako Kirishima won the best actress award at the 24th International Movie Festival in Moscow with this movie.
The movie that's written, and acted by Gen-X writer and actors has all the subdued feelings of that generation.
Both Mikako Ichikawa and Manami Konishi are models, and are unusually tall for Japanese women, Ichikawa hitting 5'7", and Konishi at 5'6" tall.
Both Ichikawa, and Konishi has successful career as actors, and are familiar faces in Japanese TV now.
I liked this movie for the beautiful imagery. The small stories that's inserted as the scene changes were almost like moving poems. I wanted to see more of relation between Endo, and Kirishima but the movie just kept going without drastic change in the flow.
The movie is well crafted and is definitely worth seeing.
If you're interested in visiting the areas that this movie was shot, here are the locations:
Niigata City:
Mandaibashi bridge by route 7
Furumachi Mall
Niigata station (West side connector pass)
Keiwagakuen High School (The art room scene)
Takaoka City (Toyama prefecture):
Fushiki High school (Near JR Etchu-Kokubu station)
