Part of the 2018 All American High School Festival, “Dreams: To be Continued” was produced by Yonago National College of Technology Broadcasting Department and is now screening at the 21st Japan Film Fest Hamburg
Erika, the main protagonist, spends much of her time writing stories in the school's literary club. Although she is a prolific writer, she has one foible: she is never able to write an ending for her stories, and so they all finish with the words ‘to be continued'. As the last day of school approaches, the class decides to do something special for their last ever school festival and ‘go out with a bang' by putting on a romantic play in the style of Romeo and Juliet. Erika sees her chance to be part of something special and, despite the misgivings of her best friend Manami, who knows she can never finish a story, volunteers to write the script. The trouble is, the girls have never been in love, and so for inspiration, Manami decides that they need to rectify that. The trouble is, Manami tries to set Erika up with the popular Taito, the school heartthrob, and so jealousy ensues which has implications for Erika's role as the script writer, but there may yet be a happy ending to this story…
In the opening scene to the film, one gets the sense that the acting is amateurish, and that a slightly corny film will follow, but as the plot develops, the actors really find their stride. It is sometimes difficult to judge the quality of acting when experiencing the dialogue through subtitles, but the young, largely female, cast really does convey the high-school atmosphere and coming-of-age feel of the film well, and they suit their roles perfectly, with a standout performance from the actor playing Erika, the film's lead character.
The camerawork, lighting and editing works well to convey the mood of this short film and belies the presumably low budget at the director's disposal. In fact, the film's almost gonzo style, particularly when the play itself is being acted out within it, highlights the fact that it was a high-school media project. This does not diminish the movie in any way however, rather it adds to its authenticity and overall charm.
“Dreams: To be Continued” deals with the perennial themes of unrequited teenage love, jealousy and coming of age, but it has a few whimsical elements too, like the boy who dresses as a girl to get ‘in character' when the girls go to him for inspiration.
“Dreams: To be Continued” is a thoroughly charming 20 minutes of film, which I enjoyed much more than I expected. For a high-school media project, it's very impressive and augurs a bright future for the production team if they choose to make a career of film-making, which I certainly hope they do. Definitely worth a watch!
