Night's Tightrope (2016) (Blu-ray) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version) Blu-ray Region A

Opening with shocking scenes of bullying as girls chant for their victims to die, the film follows Mizuki Yamamoto (Sadako vs Kayako) as Atsuko, whose own experiences at the hands of her classmates have been so traumatic that she continues to fake a leg injury from a past kendo accident. She becomes best friends with Yuki (Tsubasa Honda, Blue Spring Ride), a seemingly tougher girl and a would-be novelist, whose world is thrown into disarray when her newly-finished book Night's Tightrope is stolen and published by a rotten teacher, who wins himself a literary prize in the process. The two girls drift apart, Atsuko falling in with Shiori, a girl (Ryo Sato, The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue) who makes money by tricking older men, while Yuki starts spending time with their classmate Hikaru (Mackenyu Arata, Peach Girl), a boy who shares her increasingly macabre thoughts. Becoming more troubled and morbid to the point of considering suicide, the two take summer jobs which bring them closer to the edge, Yuki working in a paediatric ward and Atsuko in a nursing home for the critically ill, each hoping that they'll have life changing experiences by witnessing death first hand.

Unsurprisingly, like most films based on the works of Kanae Minato, Night's Tightrope is not exactly a fun ride or indeed a typical tale of schoolgirl bonding, its protagonists being abused, exploited and humiliated from the start, not only by adults but by their peers, depicted a vicious mob of harpies, classroom life being very much a twisted case of survival of the fittest. Director Yukiko Mishima, whose last film was the 2015 dressmaking manga adaptation A Stitch of Life and who also co-scripted, proves a good fit for the material, taking an approach that shows restraint rather than falling back on shocks and twists – though the film does have its fair share of both, they're all the more effective for being delivered with a degree of patient subtlety. Similarly, though the film certainly goes to some very dark places, dealing with themes of revenge and suicide, these never dominate, and unlike for example Tetsuya Nakashima's adaptation of Confessions, it sticks to being grounded and shies away from anything too hysterical.

Though the film is grim, its strength comes from the fact that has a very human heart, thanks in no small part to an excellent script that really brings the characters of Yuki and Atsuko to believable life. Bolstered by some impressively mature acting from Mizuki Yamamoto and Tsubasa Honda, both playing very much against type, the film is moving rather than merely depressing, and despite their shared morbid eccentricity, the viewer comes to care for the protagonists, their death obsession seeming increasingly logical given the world they exist in. The ways in which the two grow and develop and the shifts in their relationship are compelling and nuanced, and the film does find a kind of hope in the experiences they have as they attempt to embrace death, building to a rewarding conclusion.

The film also stands out through an interesting story which doesn't play at all play out like the usual Japanese schoolgirl dramas or angsty coming of age yarns, which typically come packed with life lessons and tears. The way in which the narrative effectively splits in two as the girls go their different routes is engaging and original, and the parallels between their experiences make for fascinating viewing, Yukiko Mishima successfully generating tension as to whether or not either of them will be pushed over the edge. Though admittedly anecdotal and meandering in places the film is quietly gripping throughout, and is all the better for being unconventional.

Night's Tightrope is one of the best Japanese teen dramas of the last few years, and proof again that the challenging works of Kanae Minato have, in the right hands at least, the potential to make for thought-provoking cinema. While the film's bleak tone and dark paths will mean that it's not for all tastes, it's an impressive and accomplished offering from Yukiko Mishima, and surely promises great things to come from Mizuki Yamamoto and Tsubasa Honda.

by James Mudge - EasternKicks.com