4/5 starsUnveiled in competition at the Venice International Film Festival just three months after he took the somewhat disappointing Sheep in the Box to Cannes, Hirokazu Koreeda’s Look Back – in which a childhood friendship shapes an artistic dream – is an elegant work that once again underlines the Japanese director’s preternatural skills at working with young actors.The film is full of surprises and beautifully rendered, much like the manga at the heart of the story.Adapted from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s work – which was turned into an equally charming animated feature of the same name in 2024 – Koreeda’s film begins as Fujino (Furi Nanase) is encouraged by her teacher to reach out to fellow fourth-grade pupil Kyomoto (Rokka Okada), a reclusive girl who, like Fujino, loves to draw.実写映画『ルックバック』本予告映像解禁【9月11日公開】At first, she is a little upset when she overhears someone say that her artwork looks “kind of average” next to Kyomoto’s. But whatever jealousy she feels washes away when she meets the shy Kyomoto, who later explains she “stopped going to school” because she got “scared of people”.Ignoring her sister, who warns her that in middle school she will be seen as a “creepy manga nerd”, Fujino is a driving force who dreams that one day her and Kyomoto’s work will be turned into anime.