Yuta has adjusted to his life as a loner. He lives in a tiny apartment on the outskirts of Tokyo with his chronically overworked mother. During lonely meals he listens to news of the rising suicide rate among young people. In his directorial debut, Hirohara Satoru invites us to explore the universal feeling of adolescence. His youthful hero Yuta transforms his own room into a dance floor, shares his observations with a cassette recorder, and makes the world his own by giving things new names. It is a life lived in the never-changing shuttle between home and school. Every day his walk to school leads him through a tunnel, where a homeless man resides. One day Yuta steals his bag – the next day he is found dead. Now the boy sets out to find the dead man’s family. The contents of the bag help him in his search for clues. This voyage into another person’s life leads him to discover the outside world. He travels by foot, by bicycle, and is given a lift in a car. Increasingly he is willing to let other people accompany him on his journey. Good Morning to the World!! is not just the song but also the movement of this film. (Anke Leweke)
Production: Pia Filmfestival, Tokyo
Screenplay: Hirohara Satoru
Camera: Koarai Hirotatsu, Hirohara Satoru
Cast: Koizumi Yoichiro, Arai Miho, Izumi Mitsunori, Morimoto Namiko, Kaneyama Shotaro, Kato Koichi
Format: HDCam, color
Running time: 81 min.
Language: Japanese
