Avoid: Tamatama

After seeing Aoi Yu in episode one of Shokuzai and remembering how great she is, I felt like filling in a few of the gaps in my knowledge of her filmography. But I certainly make a poor choice with this film.

At fifty minutes long, it's the directorial debut of Komatsu Mayumi whose previous work was in commercials and music videos. And if you can image the kind of poor characterisation and weak storytelling that you get in a commercial, but stretched out to almost an hour, then you've got some idea about how bad this film is.

The film is set in Ireland. A sort fantasy version of Ireland where people seem baffled by foreigners or spend their days sitting in fields. And even if you ignore this bizarre version of Ireland, the film's attempts at whimsy or charm just fall flat. There is one bit, where a boy is describing some pebbles he's found that resemble other natural things – that bit is quite nice. But that's about it.

Considering how quickly the scene changes, the film drags. The acting is stiff and unconvincing, and the script doesn't ask Aoi Yu to do anything much except look a bit confused. And to be honest, I couldn't make it to the end. Even at just fifty minutes, this film is a real struggle to get through.