Protraph Lack of good storyline.

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

samboran This film is about the change of the high school girl in the summer vacation. She had got wild because of her family problems but by staying with her cousin's family and getting involved with an old lady, something changes in her personality. She is very straightforward and her attitude are quite easily affected by her feelings. Especially she frequently changes her attitudes towards her innocent cousin. This seems too childish for me, so I do not like her. And some bond between she and the old lady made changes in her but when and why did they come so intimate? In our daily lives it often occurs that people become friendly before we know, though. Probably I think I demand reasons too much in stories. I raise the part I didn't like above, but I liked the music used in this film and the scenery of the countryside. That made me feel relaxed.

ebiros2 This movie sets its story in two opposing contrasts one about urban life and country living, and another about young and old. Yumi, lives a shallow life like many teenage girls living in urban Japan until her father sends her to country side where their relatives live for the summer. She befriends Ms Koide, an old lady who used to be an actress.Removed from the urban life, and seeing the contrast between her who has whole life ahead of herself, and an elderly Ms Koide who has nothing to look forward to in life, Yumi begins to put things into perspective about her own life.This realization comes very gradually, so the movie seems slow, but the story is told in a very beautiful way. Almost all the people living around her in the city is very selfish, people living in the country aren't as privileged, but are more caring. Yumi gets a chance to reassess her life between the two opposing environment.Kind of a coming of age story for an urban girl, but also has message for all of us about what life is all about.Highly recommended.

mweston The plot of this film reminded me of "On Golden Pond." In this case a teenage girl who is somewhat troubled is sent off to the country when her parents separate. She becomes reacquainted with an elderly relative who is suffering from Alzheimer's.The pace of the film is slow, but the scenery is spectacularly beautiful, which most of us would not have expected from Japan as most films there are set in the big cities. The sounds of the cicadas made my wife very homesick for the country where she grew up.The film tied for the audience award for best dramatic feature at Cinequest (the San Jose, CA film festival), which is where I saw it on 2/26/2002.

henri_aqua Firefly Dreams is a movie about the friendship between a young teenage girl and an old Lady who she visits in her summer holidays. Naomi is a spoiled brat and send by her father to the countryside, after her mother runs away. There she works at the restaurant of her aunt and uncle. Close lives also Mrs Koide with whom she used to play when she was a kid. From there the story unfolds. I have to praise almost all aspects of the movie. The plot is well thought and all characters are believable and very interesting even the ones who just appear in a few scenes. The photography is marvellous, the landscape is breathtaking and rounds up the plot very nicely. The aesthetic is very different from recent Japanese movies I saw (e.g. from Kitano). It is violent free and it is set mainly in a rural area. Maybe this is so because the director is English and chose a different approach for portraying Japanese life, but this is just a speculation. The acting is great and for me this is the first time I think I learned something about normal Japanese everyday life through a movie. Surely the development of Naomi, how she grows up - and indeed has to grow up - through friendship and also sorrow, is the driving force of the movie. The movie has a slow pace, so if you are an action-movie fan, don't go. Everybody else: you will not regret it!