The Case Of Hana And Alice...
I saw the Case Of Hana And Alice...
The Case Of Hana And Alice focuses on an investigation of an urban legend murder being conducted by our intrepid heroines as they set out on a dramatic adventure filled with teen angst, painfully awkward situations and a bit of humor. The story starts when Alice, newly arrived from elsewhere in typical transfer-student cliche, becomes embroiled in unraveling the sordid details of the murder of a fellow student. Hana, a shut-in living next door to Alice, who used to attend Alice's school, throws herself, and a now unwilling Alice, into an investigation in which Alice has suddenly lost interest.
One of my favorite moments in the Case Of Hana And Alice occurs fairly early in the feature when Alice, on her way to class, finds herself on the receiving end of a discarded chicken bone and other insults such as taunts of being a devil girl. Alice refuses to accept this abuse and promptly beats the snot out of the offender -- first knocking him to the ground with her school bag, then stomping on his chest and finally punching him several times until he apologizes and then punches him a few more times as she chastises him for being a bully. Alice is definitely not someone to be taken lightly.
After Alice and Hana make fools of themselves conducting an ill-conceived investigation and spend a miserable night out on the street, the investigation comes to a rather awkward and shocking conclusion. During the course of the investigation we discover the truth behind Hana's exile. In the end, thanks to Alice, Hana ends her exile and returns to class and Alice has a new best friend. Overall, the Case Of Hana And Alice was reasonably entertaining, but, its visual style was a bit distracting in places. I would give the Case Of Hana And Alice a 3 out 5.
One of the more striking aspects of the Case Of Hana And Alice is the visual style of the feature. The backgrounds sometimes have an almost impressionist feel -- like photos that have been rendered to look like cartoons. The character artwork, on the other hand, exhibits a more realistic tone -- like using live-action footage to produce the animation frames -- (i.e.: rotoscoping). Occasionally, the clunky underbelly of this animation style reveals itself in some of the more action-oriented scenes. Later, after a visit to Wikipedia, I found out that my initial hunch about the use of rotoscoping in this feature appears to be correct.When Alice transfers to a new middle school, she hears an urban legend about a student who disappeared the previous year and is suspected to have been killed by his fellow students. Even worse, Alice discovers that she lives next door to his former house, a supposedly haunted home now occupied by a reclusive classmate named Hana. Hana and Alice decide to investigate this murder case together, but soon find their lack of detective skills may be an obstacle, in this unusual and charming film from famed writer-director Shunji Iwai, in which a shaggy-dog mystery tale ultimately gives way to a wonderfully nuanced story of young female friendship, and the fantasies and thrills of everyday teenage life.
The Case Of Hana And Alice focuses on an investigation of an urban legend murder being conducted by our intrepid heroines as they set out on a dramatic adventure filled with teen angst, painfully awkward situations and a bit of humor. The story starts when Alice, newly arrived from elsewhere in typical transfer-student cliche, becomes embroiled in unraveling the sordid details of the murder of a fellow student. Hana, a shut-in living next door to Alice, who used to attend Alice's school, throws herself, and a now unwilling Alice, into an investigation in which Alice has suddenly lost interest.
One of my favorite moments in the Case Of Hana And Alice occurs fairly early in the feature when Alice, on her way to class, finds herself on the receiving end of a discarded chicken bone and other insults such as taunts of being a devil girl. Alice refuses to accept this abuse and promptly beats the snot out of the offender -- first knocking him to the ground with her school bag, then stomping on his chest and finally punching him several times until he apologizes and then punches him a few more times as she chastises him for being a bully. Alice is definitely not someone to be taken lightly.
After Alice and Hana make fools of themselves conducting an ill-conceived investigation and spend a miserable night out on the street, the investigation comes to a rather awkward and shocking conclusion. During the course of the investigation we discover the truth behind Hana's exile. In the end, thanks to Alice, Hana ends her exile and returns to class and Alice has a new best friend. Overall, the Case Of Hana And Alice was reasonably entertaining, but, its visual style was a bit distracting in places. I would give the Case Of Hana And Alice a 3 out 5.
