DirkH’s review published on Letterboxd:
Part of Dastardly Difficult December: film nr.92
I am having great difficulty trying to find the words to describe how much pure, raw emotive power resides within this film.
This is the second film I've seen by the hand of Kon (Paprika being the other) and I can safely say that I am a fan. He displays here an ability to take a simple premise, tell a simple story in it, yet structure its narrative in such a unique and rather complex way that its powerful simplicity gains a level of beauty that is not often seen in film.
An aging actress that reminisces about her career because she is being interviewed, with around her the studios that she worked which are being torn down. She recounts her career and her tale of lost love. Simple right? True, but the way this story is told isn't. The moment you realize that, while watching her memories, the camerman and the interviewer are present in the memory and actively take part, that's when we know we won't be handed out gratifying emotional pay off on a silver platter. We will have to work for it.
Like in Paprika, the dichotomy of reality and dreams/memory is not so much a line here as a window. We are shown everything and are asked to take from it what we will. For those who take nothing from it, there is always the opportunity to marvel at the animation. There are sequences that are stunning, with seamless transitions between time and place, making them sometimes dizzying, but always inspirational.
For those that have their eyes and hearts wide open and are willing to match this film's strong heartbeat, there is enough to find. What that is exactly is up to you. For me, this is the closest I've ever seen a filmcome to grasping what love is. It is a thing in a constant state of flux, but when it is real it will never go away. I was completely sucked into the string of memories with a symbolic key running through them, a key representing absolution, unrequited love turned into love made real. What pulled me along was the desire for the key to find its lock and I have to say that the final conclusion gave me a lump in my throat. And that just doesn't happen very often.
As with most films it is always deeply personal whether something affects you this much. I'll just treasure what it did for me and will most certainly revisit this tragic, bitter sweet tale of nostalgic love many, many times.