Summer Vacation: 1999 is such a breathtakingly exquisite film to look at, that it's a shame the movie shares a lot in common with the intensely personal strain of modern poetry: i.e., the vision is so specifically that of the author, that readers (or, in this case, viewers) feel lost. For reasons which I couldn't even guess at, the story is set in 1999, and told from the point of view of an adult looking back. Four orphan boys remain at a boarding school, while their fellow students go home for summer vacation. The film opens with one of the boys, named Yu, leaving a love note for one of the other boys, and jumping off a cliff. Months later, a new boy appears, who calls himself by a different name, but looks exactly like the presumed dead Yu. Temperamentally 180 degrees away from Yu, the "new" boy manages to win the heart of the boy Yu loved previously. The audience is really not sure whether the boy is actually Yu or not until later in the film. Summer Vacation: 1999's strengths are its beautiful cinematography, and its unabashed celebration of adolescence. But most will find the story line and plot development very confusing. (For that matter, most viewers will argue about whether two of the boys are really girls.) The love between the boys has an element of physical attraction, but physical love is not the subject here, and few are likely to find the movie offensive. Director Shusuke Kaneko is obviously a very gifted artist, and one begins watching the film with rapt adoration for its precise and poetically framed shots of both the boys and the luxuriant nature surrounding them. But as the film moves further and further away from reality (or at least from a reality that Westerners can identify with), the viewer is left wondering what the heck is going on. Ultimately, the film left me with ambivalent feelings: it won't play in Peoria, so to speak; but communities with large pockets of artists may find an acceptance for the film. An optional purchase, depending on your clientele. (R. Pitman)
Summer Vacation: 1999
(1988) 90 min. In Japanese w/English subtitles. $69.95. New Yorker Video. Library Journal
Summer Vacation: 1999
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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