Harmful Insect

Harmful Insect

2001 · 92 min · JA · 7.0 (22 votes)
Dir. Akihiko Shiota · Starring Aoi Miyazaki, Yu Aoi, Ryo, Seiichi Tanabe, Yuria Haga, Yūsuke Iseya
Drama

13-year-old Sachiko is about to encounter the most difficult moments in her young life. Her father abandons her and her mother attempts to commit suicide by slashing her wrist. Her teacher, whom she relies on heavily, leaves for northern Japan to take another job. Other students start to gossip about Sachiko and her former teacher. Sachiko then drops out of school and attempts to find herself.

VIBE

This film feels like a quiet, devastating descent into adolescent despair. It's a raw, unflinching look at a young girl's world crumbling, leaving her adrift in a sea of profound loneliness and quiet suffering.

melancholicbleakintrospectivesomberslow-burnarthousecharacter-drivennaturalisticadolescencetraumaisolationfamily dysfunction