Look Back' is almost perfect - Movie Review

A couple of years ago, Tatsuki Fujimoto, after finishing part 1 of Chainsaw Man, released a one-shot called Look Back. It's a story about two characters, Fujino and Kiyomoto, and it explores their passion for creating manga while asking why they pursued this passion in the first place. Throughout the story, we see how much these characters grow not just as friends but also as artists. On the surface, it is pretty straightforward, but naturally it becomes and in the case of the manga, Fujimoto showcased this change in tone through the complexity of the drawings themselves, with the later pages having more erratic crosshatches in the shading as opposed to the more clearer and simpler beginning. Yeah, there's some heavy-hitting subject matter which I won't spoil, but ultimately I really like this one-shot. It's simple, it's relatable, it can and will probably tug at your heartstrings, but by the time I finished reading it, I've So here we are. Look Back's animated film adaptation is directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama, and it's… it's really good. I'll try to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, but this is an almost exact one-to-one, shot-for-shot, word-for-word adaptation of the manga. It is as fateful as you can imagine. Due to the rather short length of the original manga, the film is about 60 minutes long, including the credits, and look, what I'm about to say is not a criticism, but part of me wished that the film was a little longer. Like, obviously this means that they have to add in some original scenes, and I know some of you would consider that to be just padding or filler content, and I get it, but I also think that the story could've benefited from showcasing maybe a bit more of the relationship between the two main characters. Not to say that the story failed to showcase this bond in the short time that it was given, but I personally would've loved this movie even more if they did expand on the story. Because to me, the film's biggest strength lies within the first 40 or so minutes. Again, without spoiling much of the story, but the first half of the movie is where we get the most out of seeing our two main characters grow. It's also, surprisingly, the most emotional I felt throughout the film. See, here's the thing, I reread the manga the day before I watched this film in theaters, and while I definitely enjoyed the first half of the story, it's the second half that I find to be more powerful. Obviously, there's the emotional climax and the overall message of the story finally conveyed and all that, so coming into the film, I was sort of mentally preparing for that inevitable shift to hit me during the second half, but guys, the first half of the movie hit harder for me. Look, this may sound like an overreaction, but I was already getting watery-eyed within the first five minutes Getting to see this adaptation in theaters and got treated immediately with a two-minute long unbroken shot of one of the characters just sitting and drawing in her room and just noticing all of the subtle yet expressive animation they gave her as she's just living in this moment focused entirely on her artwork, and then you get to see what she was drawing and the movie beautifully transitions to her drawing. Yeah, they animated the four-script mangas that she drew, and I was like, yeah, absolute cinema. I am strapped in. I am ready. No wonder Kojima loved this film. And that was how I felt throughout most of the film. Each scene to me was brimming with life and you feel the love and passion that was poured for this film to be the way it is. A lot of the shots are straight up exactly like the manga panels, like composition wise it is identically the same, but when the film gets creative and, well, becomes a film and not just a copy of the manga, it is breathtaking. There's so many cool and fun shots that to me showcases the strengths of the medium of animation. There's a scene early on that involves a character moving in the rain and I was just in awe at how much they not only nail the tone and atmosphere, but also the emotion that the character is feeling through the expressiveness of the animation. Again, these moments that were already good in the manga are elevated to their maximum potential in emotional resonance that I just can't help but feel things, man. Like, it's some really powerful stuff. And I'm not talking about the narrative, by the way. No, I'm talking about as an adaptation. This is as near perfect as you could get. So why isn't it perfect, then? Well, to me, my only problem with the film is the remaining 20 minutes. Because here's the thing, I just don't think it has the same level of presentation as the rest of the movie. Maybe some of you will disagree with me on this when you finally watch the movie yourselves, but I just didn't feel that emotional resonance here compared to when I was reading the manga. And no, it's not because I already know what's coming and therefore it doesn't hit as hard. No, that's total BS in my opinion. No, because the first half of the movie made me cry on moments that I wasn't even feeling anything in the manga. No, the reason why I felt this way is that compared to the rest of the movie, they didn't really do much for the climax. I get that we gotta tone it down because, you know, well, tonal shift and all, but I'm more so talking about those expressiveness in the visuals that provoked such profound feelings for me in the beginning. So remember how I said in the manga that Fujimoto changed the style of his shading to better complement the messy and complex situation the characters are in? To me, that visual change does so much in evoking certain emotions from the reader and I was rather disappointed that the film didn't try to do anything similar during these moments. And sure, most manga adaptations suffer this consequential sacrifice when being adapted, but given the creativity the film showed for half its runtime, I was kind of taken out of the experience when I they're not really doing anything creative for these moments. But really, my biggest disappointment was the final montage that they showed between the two characters. Without spoilers, once again, but in the manga, there are plenty of these montages to show the passage of time, and the film so far has done a beautiful job at conveying these moments. So when the final montage was just a collection of still images, basically a PowerPoint presentation, I didn't want to say it, I didn't want to be mean, but yeah, it is what it is. Yeah, I was a bit disappointed. And look, I'm sure some of you won't necessarily mind it, and maybe a second viewing will change my mind now that I have my expectations in check, but I do feel a bit bummed out that the climax of the film didn't really get to me as much as I wanted. But do understand that the reason why I feel this way in the first place is because of how incredible the rest of the movie is. Ultimately, that montage is really my one and only gripe with the film. I do wonder if this was a creative choice from the beginning, or if they had to compromise because of a tight deadline. But either way, I still really enjoyed the movie despite my somewhat mixed feelings towards the end. I also think that some will say that the story is too simple, and I think those people are kind of missing the point. Because the way Look Back's story works is that it combines both simplicity and complexity, in that it is simple as you are able to see it, but as complex as you begin to understand it. Kyomoto's character is a good example of this, as on the outside, she's a shut-in who slowly opens up and becomes closer to our other main character, Fujino, but the more you understand why she is that way, why it has to be Fujino, and why she pursued to be a better artist despite already being a great artist, the more the character fades from just a fictional idea to a representation of an actual person. It shouldn't be surprising to say, but Look Back is absolutely semi-autobiographical in nature, and it's this personal feeling that makes it relatable to a lot of people that makes this story pretty special in my eyes. And those were my thoughts on Look Back. Let me know your thoughts if you have seen the film in the comments. Thank you all for watching, take care everybody, and have a nice day.