1985·Romance·1h 52m
7.1
★
Lonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his psyche, or is she real?
Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
coming of age
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Cast
Yasuko Tomita
Sabishinbou / Yuriko Tachibana / Lonelyheart
Toshinori Omi
Hiroki Inoue
Yumiko Fujita
Tatsuko Inoue
Nenji Kobayashi
Douryou Inoue
Makoto Satō
Principal Okamoto
Ittoku Kishibe
Tetsu Yoshida
Nao Asuka
Kazuo's Mother
Wakaba Irie
PTA President
Kirin Kiki
Terue Amano
Satomi Kobayashi
Yukimi Amano
Toru Minegishi
Kazuo's Father
Toshie Negishi
Makoto's Mother
Crew
Nobuhiko Obayashi
Director
Nobuhiko Obayashi
Screenplay
Popular Reviews
18 reviews
dparasol
10.0★ · 06/18/26
Watched this while my internet was out and I had no mobile data, so logging late right now. Also, this gets to go on the new Obayashi ranked list, which features other movies where people from different generations learn to understand each other.
Watching this just after Samurai Kids, both with their "treasures" and the weird, aloof adults, it feels like I've found another major key to understanding Obayashi. What's really funny here is just how playful and warm a lot of the adults actually are in this particular film. Even the principal starts singing that dirty song.
Actually, there's another connection between Samurai Kids and this film in that, in both films, the appearance of a reborn spiritual figure brings a boy closer to his parents. Admittedly, I don't necessarily like the, uh, Freudian angle on this one, but it's a relatively minor quibble in this case. This isn't a movie about, uh, incest, it's a movie about the universal experiences we share with our parents, like falling in love and discovering what loneliness is for the first time or our friends doing something that pisses us off so much we faintly remember it twenty or thirty years later.
There's a lot of musicality in this film, actually...everybody's always playing music, or singing about balls, or humming, or chanting, or beating a drum (or bell). It's so god damn lively.
We all agree that his adult mom is cute, though, right?
"Inoue, I'm glad you made it back to school. I heard your mother went crazy."
Watching this just after Samurai Kids, both with their "treasures" and the weird, aloof adults, it feels like I've found another major key to understanding Obayashi. What's really funny here is just how playful and warm a lot of the adults actually are in this particular film. Even the principal starts singing that dirty song.
Actually, there's another connection between Samurai Kids and this film in that, in both films, the appearance of a reborn spiritual figure brings a boy closer to his parents. Admittedly, I don't necessarily like the, uh, Freudian angle on this one, but it's a relatively minor quibble in this case. This isn't a movie about, uh, incest, it's a movie about the universal experiences we share with our parents, like falling in love and discovering what loneliness is for the first time or our friends doing something that pisses us off so much we faintly remember it twenty or thirty years later.
There's a lot of musicality in this film, actually...everybody's always playing music, or singing about balls, or humming, or chanting, or beating a drum (or bell). It's so god damn lively.
We all agree that his adult mom is cute, though, right?
"Inoue, I'm glad you made it back to school. I heard your mother went crazy."
Watched this while my internet was out and I had no mobile data, so logging late right now. Also, this gets to go on the new Obayashi ranked list, which features other movies where people from different generations learn to understand each other.
Watching this just after Samurai Kids, both with their "treasures" and the weird, aloof adults, it feels like I've found another major key to understanding Obayashi. What's really funny here is just how playful and warm a lot of the adults actually are in this particular film. Even the principal starts singing that dirty song.
Actually, there's another connection between Samurai Kids and this film in that, in both films, the appearance of a reborn spiritual figure brings a boy closer to his parents. Admittedly, I don't necessarily like the, uh, Freudian angle on this one, but it's a relatively minor quibble in this case. This isn't a movie about, uh, incest, it's a movie about the universal experiences we share with our parents, like falling in love and discovering what loneliness is for the first time or our friends doing something that pisses us off so much we faintly remember it twenty or thirty years later.
There's a lot of musicality in this film, actually...everybody's always playing music, or singing about balls, or humming, or chanting, or beating a drum (or bell). It's so god damn lively.
We all agree that his adult mom is cute, though, right?
"Inoue, I'm glad you made it back to school. I heard your mother went crazy."
Watching this just after Samurai Kids, both with their "treasures" and the weird, aloof adults, it feels like I've found another major key to understanding Obayashi. What's really funny here is just how playful and warm a lot of the adults actually are in this particular film. Even the principal starts singing that dirty song.
Actually, there's another connection between Samurai Kids and this film in that, in both films, the appearance of a reborn spiritual figure brings a boy closer to his parents. Admittedly, I don't necessarily like the, uh, Freudian angle on this one, but it's a relatively minor quibble in this case. This isn't a movie about, uh, incest, it's a movie about the universal experiences we share with our parents, like falling in love and discovering what loneliness is for the first time or our friends doing something that pisses us off so much we faintly remember it twenty or thirty years later.
There's a lot of musicality in this film, actually...everybody's always playing music, or singing about balls, or humming, or chanting, or beating a drum (or bell). It's so god damn lively.
We all agree that his adult mom is cute, though, right?
"Inoue, I'm glad you made it back to school. I heard your mother went crazy."
RAAS
8.0★ · 04/22/26
ChatGPT pls explain this in chronological order
ChatGPT pls explain this in chronological order
Kanekuri
7.0★ · 04/08/26
The opening is a cheap nostalgia bait even by Obayashi's standards, but luckily it does get better later on. Still, I'm not nearly as fond of his comedies as I am of his more tragic late-career work. Might be a weird generalization, but I think the 80's were one of the worst decades for teen movies. Though I haven’t watched much.
The parrot lowkey carried the whole movie
The parrot lowkey carried the whole movie
The opening is a cheap nostalgia bait even by Obayashi's standards, but luckily it does get better later on. Still, I'm not nearly as fond of his comedies as I am of his more tragic late-career work. Might be a weird generalization, but I think the 80's were one of the worst decades for teen movies. Though I haven’t watched much.
The parrot lowkey carried the whole movie
The parrot lowkey carried the whole movie
James
10.0★ · 02/09/26
Oh boy, this one was a rollercoaster. It was weird at first and very uncomfortable that the love interest had the same face of the mother when she was young so I was very cautious. But by the end it all made sense. He was seeking for the warmth, and comfort and familiarity. And she couldn't let go. Sabishinō wasn't merely Hiroki's feelings but the mother's as well as the past kept them both in it's grip. The past only one of them really knew and the other created an idealized version of it
Oh boy, this one was a rollercoaster. It was weird at first and very uncomfortable that the love interest had the same face of the mother when she was young so I was very cautious. But by the end it all made sense. He was seeking for the warmth, and comfort and familiarity. And she couldn't let go. Sabishinō wasn't merely Hiroki's feelings but the mother's as well as the past kept them both in it's grip. The past only one of them really knew and the other created an idealized version of it
c
10.0★ · 05/16/25
"Have you ever fallen in love? Fall in love. Fall in love with all your might. Share all of their joys and sorrows."
After only two films, Obayashi is quickly becoming my favourite director. I have genuinely never had films resonate with me the way that 'House' and 'Lonelyheart' have. Grief is such a complicated emotion, and I have never truly felt understood by anybody in my history with it. I feel understood watching these films.
'Lonelyheart' asserts that lamentation is no just cause for letting a memory die; that although time has passed, and people may be gone, the that love you shared will never be lost. Hold these memories close to your heart. Don't ever forget them.
"Falling in love with someone is so lonely. That's why I am Lonelyheart. But still, I think I am happier than the people who don't know that loneliness."
After only two films, Obayashi is quickly becoming my favourite director. I have genuinely never had films resonate with me the way that 'House' and 'Lonelyheart' have. Grief is such a complicated emotion, and I have never truly felt understood by anybody in my history with it. I feel understood watching these films.
'Lonelyheart' asserts that lamentation is no just cause for letting a memory die; that although time has passed, and people may be gone, the that love you shared will never be lost. Hold these memories close to your heart. Don't ever forget them.
"Falling in love with someone is so lonely. That's why I am Lonelyheart. But still, I think I am happier than the people who don't know that loneliness."
"Have you ever fallen in love? Fall in love. Fall in love with all your might. Share all of their joys and sorrows."
After only two films, Obayashi is quickly becoming my favourite director. I have genuinely never had films resonate with me the way that 'House' and 'Lonelyheart' have. Grief is such a complicated emotion, and I have never truly felt understood by anybody in my history with it. I feel understood watching these films.
'Lonelyheart' asserts that lamentation is no just cause for letting a memory die; that although time has passed, and people may be gone, the that love you shared will never be lost. Hold these memories close to your heart. Don't ever forget them.
"Falling in love with someone is so lonely. That's why I am Lonelyheart. But still, I think I am happier than the people who don't know that loneliness."
After only two films, Obayashi is quickly becoming my favourite director. I have genuinely never had films resonate with me the way that 'House' and 'Lonelyheart' have. Grief is such a complicated emotion, and I have never truly felt understood by anybody in my history with it. I feel understood watching these films.
'Lonelyheart' asserts that lamentation is no just cause for letting a memory die; that although time has passed, and people may be gone, the that love you shared will never be lost. Hold these memories close to your heart. Don't ever forget them.
"Falling in love with someone is so lonely. That's why I am Lonelyheart. But still, I think I am happier than the people who don't know that loneliness."