16th episode of the TV series “If”, “Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?” was Shunji Iwai's first work to garner attention, netting him a New Director Award from the Director's Guild of Japan. The film was eventually adapted into a highly successful anime in 2017.
“Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival
It is the end of the elementary school year, right before a festival taking place in the area, which features a show of fireworks. A group of sixth graders are having an argument: are fireworks round, or flat? Do they change if we watch them from the side, or the bottom? The argument gets more and more heated, and eventually bets are placed. In the meanwhile, two of the group, Norimichi and Yosuke, meet their mutual object of passion, Nazuna, at the school pool. A swimming race occurs almost immediately, with the bet being for the winner to confess to Nazuna, although Yosuke is not so direct about his sentiments for her. He is the one to win though, after Norimichi hits his leg in the turnaround, but surprisingly, Nazuna actually proposes to him to accompany her on the festival, even stating that she likes him. However, a little later it is revealed that the girl was just going to propose to the winner, and that her actual purpose is to get away from her mother and her new fiance, who plan to move away from the area. Through a series of even violent events, Norimichi ends up on a trip with Nazuna, while the rest of the gang are trying to reach a tower in order to watch how fireworks look from the side.
Shunji Iwai directs a very sensitive coming-of-age film that focuses mainly on two topics, not counting the whole fireworks dilemma, which mostly serves as an “excuse” for the rest of the narrative and the main source of humor in the movie. The first one is teenage romance, with the relationship between Norimichi and Nozuna going through a number of episodes, that highlight the latter's resolve, to the point of even using the boys she seems to know they like her, to achieve her goal, and the former's first love notions, that make him willing to go to extremes to make her want him.
The second is the friendship among boys, which goes through a number of stages, most of which involve some kind of competition, with the race for the love of Nozuna and the betting on the fireworks highlighting the concept in the most eloquent way. At the same time, Iwai takes full advantage of the rural setting to induce the narrative with a road movie element, which in this case, also entails coming-of-age aspects. Probably the most delightful moment in the movie is when the boys shout who they are in love with in the middle of nowhere, with their choices, that actually entail their school teacher, being rather hilarious.
Ichiro Chazono's cinematography is quite good, with the way he has captured the rural setting, the school and the various locations the two groups visit adding to the whole “summer vacation” approach, with the apogee being the fireworks in the end. Koji Kanaya's editing retains a fitting, relatively fast pace, while he also seems to “correct” the performances of the child actors, with the dialogues actually cutting to the other person each time someone else speaks. In general, the performances are not exactly great, but Megumi Okita manages to shine as Nazuna, with her actually being the only one who continued in the show business, recording albums and acting in films like “Ju-on: The Grudge”
“Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?” is a very easy-to-watch, 45-minutes film, which also functions as a great introduction to Shunji Iwai's filmography.
