Petal Dance

I decided to watch a movie this week because as a general rule, movies are easier to review. Looking at recent releases lead me to Petal Dance, I was prepared to watch the movie, review it then return to my stack of homework. Alas, that was never meant to be as Petal Dance is not the straight forward movie I was anticipating.
It's deep and thought-provoking and needs much more attention than I gave it! The plot is sparse and is quite a minor part of the film. It's a very basic tale of life and friendship which is a lot like a slice-of-life without the joy. It takes place over a matter of days when best friends Jinko and Mokoto hear that their former class mate has been hospitalized after an attempted suicide. Unsure of what the best course to take is, they decide to visit her for the first time in 6 years. But before they leave Jinko damages her hand in an attempt to stop some one jumping in front of a train. That some one was Haraki, although she just lost her job she didn't intend to take her own life but after realising Jinko can't drive with her bandaged hand, Haraki elects to be their driver instead. On the long journey to their friend, the three friends bond by talking poetically about bent trees (it's all straight over my head) and when they get there, Miki is surprised by their visit. However they agree to all go to the seaside together so they can talk about wind and draw.
It's almost a 'finding-yourself' story, except nowhere near as a dramatic. Each of the four ladies have their own sorrows and the day they spend together is important on a personal level, but for entertainment it's incredibly lacking. It's sweet and poetic, but slow and drawn-out! There are way too many unnecessary scenes and nowhere near enough development. It might have done well as a short film but out of the 90 minutes I think 30 of them are silent.
And I genuinely mean silent! There's no soundtrack albeit a brief opening tune instead the whole film is accompanied by the sound of wind rustling over the camera. The low-budget for this movie is clearly present and the whole movie appears dull as a result. None of it is particularly stimulating for the eyes or ears and it's really hard to engage with!
And now I've already ran out things to comment on about this movie!! I told you this would be hard to review!
Acting. I can't be too judgmental on this due to the nature of the film. It's casual nature doesn't call for any strong emotions and the lack of a soundtrack means that any emotion is easily missed. Characters? Well, I already told you that the script lacks development so how could the characters develop at all? They aren't particularly bad characters, they are just incredibly mundane!
The main problem for me is that the whole thing is far too realistic! Don't we all watch fiction as a means to escape reality? Even if it's not a sci-fi full of fairies unicorns fiction always portrays a life a bit more exciting. But Petal Dance could be my friend telling me about her week end-except it lasted 90 minutes! Maybe I'm just not sophisticated to get it. Also, the story has no destination. It's mapped out like a journey but it's suddenly cut in the middle-not that I wanted it any longer, just a more fitting end would be nice! Instead we're left with fragmented poetry and awkwardly gazing into the distance and one strange big metaphor for a women's youth... Or something. Can I leave now before I make this review any worse? But be sure to come by next week because I've go something special planned!!!

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