An hour. I’ve seen 2+ hour films that don’t have the richness Look Back pulls off in it’s short runtime. So pay attention lazy editors: know what the essence of your film is, and only pad onto it things that enhance your movie like incredible fight sequences, fascinating character development, or the best case scenario: the effing Catalina Wine Mixer.
The movie, like the web manga, is about two girls. Ayumu Fujino (Yuumi Kawai) is the current middle school illustrator extraordinaire, wowing the class with her wonderful comic strips. A shut-in home schooled student named Kyomoto (Mizuki Yoshida) asks to add her own comics to the school paper, which Ayumu confidently agrees to. To Fujino’s surprise, Kyomoto’s drawings are stunning, pushing Ayumu to the point where she has to decide: dive deep and become better, or concede to Kyomoto’s greatness, and find a new life to lead.
The base of Look Back is rock solid. We’ve got 2 diametrically different women drawn to the same artistic medium: Fujino the social confident one, Kyomoto the introverted dreamer. Despite their initial prickliness towards each other, this movie is more about how art builds bridges. Fujino and Kyomoto are those two people you see and wonder “how did they become friends?” But as soon as you get to know the pair, that shared love of manga intertwines their fates, as each brings out the best in the other. Conversely, when circumstances split them apart, both of them are left with a hole despite their successes, understanding how special the “Kyo Fujino” (their pen name) artistic bond was. With just incredible animation and especially score backing the story up.
Look Back is the rare movie that needs an extra 35 minutes. Despite the short runtime, bold storytelling choices enhance the story writer/director Kiyotaka Oshiyama is trying to tell. New shades and wrinkles complicating the expected conclusion of Kyo Fujino tale. Those sections of the story would work just a little better if the movie had given each girl a chance at deeper character analysis instead of rushing us to the end. The final result is still emotionally powerful, but could have been truly devastating if the movie took it’s time a little bit like the great Your Name did as an example.
But I have to say, if your movie is gonna be on a streamer, being right to the point isn’t a bad thing. Look Back really will charm anyone who has artistic ambitions, or a friend/partner that caused creative fireworks that are rare and should be celebrated. It might also charm Kiyotaka Oshiyama to write Kyo Fujino’s Shark Kick: a helluva great name for a manga series!