"Inakunare Gunjo" movie review, part two

 

 Release date: September 6, 2019 Length:104 minutes  Director: Akina Yanagi

Also known as Go Away, Ultramarine and the subs were done by Rjgman56

Main Cast: Top seven are students at a high school and aged 17/18. The setting is the remote Kaidan island that has 2,000 residents and are cut off from the mainland. Only last names were used in this film so that's all I'll be using too, more about the setting after the characters.

 Marie Iitoyo as Yuu Manabe.... Newest person on the island and has no recollection of what's happened to her the last three months. She's a rebellious young woman and wanted to leave the island the second she arrived which was unlike all of the other students. She had gone to school with Nanakusa up until two years ago, there was no romance before but could there now be sparks in the air?

Ryusei Yokohama as Nanakusa.... Has been on the island for three months which coincides with his old friend Manabe losing her memory. He enjoys life on the island and so don't most of the students, when Manabe said 'let's leave together' what was he supposed to do? He was also the 'Graffiti Culprit', more on that in the review.

Honoka Yahagi as Hori.... A really dour female student who has a crush on Nanakusa but did he realize it? She hated Manabe the moment she arrived on the island.

Koudai Matsuoka as Sasaoka.... Nanakusa's best friend on the island and is really into video games. He adored Toyakawa and would do anything for her which surprised everyone else.

Kiyo Matsumoto as Mizutani.... The class monitor and seemingly a 'by the book' kind of female, that is until she got to know the others, especially Manabe and Nanakusa, much better.

Riho Nakamura as Toyakawa.... Member of the Judo club and also a very promising violinist who found what she was looking for and eventually disappeared from the island.

Mario Kuroba as Nado.... Bit of a quiet young man and really only talked to Nanakusa but always gave him some sound advice.

Moemi Katayama as Tokito.... Older woman about 25 in age who is the island's letter carrier. Letters can be received from the outside but none of the students can send any mail off the island but can mail others letters. It was never answered but was she the Witch?

Yumi Ito as Tokume.... Teacher of the students.

Interview and trailer for the film

 Same opening paragraph as the previous post. 

 This is a difficult film to grade and hope the review won't be hard to understand. There wasn't really a true ending and so many questions we viewers had were never answered but it was still an enjoyable watch and would recommend viewing it twice to pick up on everything. The setting is the island of Kaidan which can mean mysterious, odd or bewitching. On the island there's only 2,000 residents but also a high school which appeared to have well over a hundred students. They were banished there because they were 'unwanted' and don't know why or who didn't want them. The students all seemed to be decent people who were never in trouble but we didn't learn that much about their backgrounds. The only way to leave the island safely is to find what you've lost in life or to find what they had been looking for. The island is governed by a a female named Witch who we never met and only she can decide if the students can leave the island.... also whether they should be admitted too?

 Continuing on right from where we left off it's the day of school's Music Festival and for the first time Sasaoka was able to have his first heart to heart talk with Toyokawa. He had heard the story of Toyokawa breaking her violin string on purpose which kind of dejected him as he worked so hard to get that new string by sending a letter to the Witch. Mentioned Toyokawa's past in the previous post and this is actually when she revealed everything. After practicing so hard to please her mother at a major recital Toyokawa froze during her performance and since then has been too scared to play in front of others. She's also lost so much confidence in herself and for the most part the desire to keep trying in life, are those the reasons she became 'unwanted' and was sent to the island? But after seeing the new string and listening to Sasaoka she's agreed to perform at the festival, you can see a bit of that in the above screenshots.

 Tragedy struck a second time for during her performance Toyokawa once again froze up while playing, the huge crowd sat there wondering what was going on? Manabe knew exactly what was happening with Toyokawa and in a shocking move to all ran to the stage and sat at the piano. We saw Manabe play once before, only one student knew she could play the piano and of all people it was Toyokawa. So with Manabe's backing Toyokawa gave the performance of her life which resulted in a standing ovation, also Manabe's classmates were so impressed with her new found empathy. What was also found was Toyokawa's desire to play the violin and to pop out of that shell she had built around herself. That was both good and bad, good because before the evening was over what should take place but Toyokawa mysteriously disappearing from Kaidan Island and back to her previous life? If that happened of course no part of her leaving could be considered bad but Sasaoka was quite heart broken on losing his biggest crush ever, all of his mates knew how much he cared for Toyokawa but did she realize it?

 The last few scenes covered the final 25 minutes of the movie and in a way could be considered one very long scene. Decent ending but in a way confusing as it's left many of viewers wondering what really took place and to me it needed a sequel to explain everything and to see a true outcome. The 'Graffiti Culprit' mentioned in the first post was back at work and writing critical messages about the Witch and her controlling of the student's lives. It was discovered that of all people it was Nanakusa who was the culprit and that certainly shocked everyone. However they had no chance to ask him why he was writing those messages as Nanakusa had left school and travelled to the 'Lost and Found' office which was located in a lighthouse. The door was always locked but this time it was open, it appears the Witch can open it if she realizes someone has found what they're looking for. So the door was open for Nanakusa and as he entered the lighthouse an old fashioned phone began to ring.

 Upon answering it Nanakusa discovered it was the Witch calling him and could he make out that it may have been the voice of Tokito? It was hard to tell as the voice was muffled and while this conversation was interesting at times it did ramble on for too long. Nanakusa confused us a bit with his talk as he referred to himself in the third person and said to the Witch what he lost was himself?! He knows what he's lost(his soul?) yet hasn't been able to locate it so there's no way he can leave the island without truly finding himself. That's what he confessed to the Witch who seemed to understand, glad she did as I'm still scratching my head. But did have the slight impression, which he didn't mention, was that Nanakusa lost himself when Manabe moved away two years ago, will remaining with Manabe cure him? So while Nanakusa will be staying on Kaidan Island there may be someone who isn't. During that call he told the Witch more about Manabe and is it possible to consider that she discovered what she was looking for? If the answer is yes Nanakusa, in a surprise move, asked the Witch that Manabe be allowed to leave which has been her wish.

 Manabe knew that Nanakusa had visited the lighthouse and she dashed to the location which is kind of far away and she felt that she may never her best friend ever again. But to her relief Nanakusa was heading back to the village when she spotted him and the two had a bit of a chat, good and bad news for Manabe. Good for Nanakusa told her she could leave the island and told her they needed to climb those never ending stairs to make her dream come true, bad of course to Manabe because Nanakusa won't be joining her. No clue how long it took but it seemed hours for the two to reach the top of the stairs, that ended on a mountain top overlooking the island. So while this wasn't any kind of supernatural film this scene slightly was as some heavy clouds moved in and disappearing into them was the body of Manabe who was sad to leave but didn't try to change what was happening. Didn't get into too much of what the pair talked about as you need to view the film to understand their heart to heart talk, also for what took place with the pair in the final scene.

 That final scene took place just a few days after Manabe left Kaidan island, Nanakusa was kind of bummed out with her leaving but as mentioned a few times he sort of enjoyed life on the island though he was the 'Graffiti Culprit'. In the last 3-4 minutes he was returning to his dorm after the school day, of course who should be along the waterfront than Manabe! Somehow she's returned to the island and Nanakusa was pleased, confused and disappointed at the same time. Manabe explained that they had made a pact to leave the island together, as much as she can't stand the place she's going to stay until Nanakusa is ready to leave which brought us to the end of the film. Not a real romantic ending nor was it a true ending as we're wondering what we just viewed?! To me this film really needs a part two to find out what took place with the reunion of Nanakusa and Manabe plus I want to know how she was allowed back on the island, did she make an appeal to the Witch?

 Not going to give this a rating but will say though it was confusing it was still an enjoyable movie, watched it in one sitting which is rare for me. If you're a Marie fan then there's no doubt you need to view this as she looked fabulous and it was one her best acting performances. Most films and dramas leave you wondering about many things and that's okay to an extent. But this film left me and so many others with too many unanswered questions which is why a part two is needed but it probably won't happen. All in all would recommend this film but it is one that you will need to watch twice to understand it more. Will leave with these screenshots which follow the story in chronological order. On one final note didn't get too much into those final conversations between Nanakusa and Manabe, could have said more about it without viewing the film it wouldn't have made much sense.