In the film's alternate history, Japan is partitioned between the US and the Union (presumably the post-WWII USSR). The Union side has built a giant tower on Hokkaido, so tall it's even visible from Tokyo. Two teen boys just across the straights from the island are fascinated with the mysterious Tower, want to build an airplane to visit it, and get jobs at a factory in the area. The rest of this paragraph has possible mild spoilers. They let a teen girl in on the secret, and she becomes fascinated with it too. That near-obsession with the Tower disrupts their lives in various ways, starting with strange dreams.
This was a pretty strange film. The relationships between the characters are very well portrayed. We get a pretty good feel for the three teens, though a change in one of them as they grow up is less clearly defined. The boys' boss is an interesting supporting character. The plot works well as an influence on the three teens' lives, but it weakens as it steps deeper into a blend of science and philosophy.
The movie works best up until the mystery of the Tower becomes fairly clearly revealed. Afterwards, the philosophical science fiction distracts from the very good character-based storytelling. However, because it's something so far from the ordinary, I recommend it quite a bit more strongly than I would a more typical movie.
I saw the movie in Japanese, subtitled in English -- with the amusing exception of about three lines of English which were subtitled in Japanese.
This was a pretty strange film. The relationships between the characters are very well portrayed. We get a pretty good feel for the three teens, though a change in one of them as they grow up is less clearly defined. The boys' boss is an interesting supporting character. The plot works well as an influence on the three teens' lives, but it weakens as it steps deeper into a blend of science and philosophy.
The movie works best up until the mystery of the Tower becomes fairly clearly revealed. Afterwards, the philosophical science fiction distracts from the very good character-based storytelling. However, because it's something so far from the ordinary, I recommend it quite a bit more strongly than I would a more typical movie.
I saw the movie in Japanese, subtitled in English -- with the amusing exception of about three lines of English which were subtitled in Japanese.