A movie that makes me feels like watching it because it's a very sad movie with a sad ending.... =)

A Blue Production Partnership presentation of an Omega Micott production. (International sales: Omega Micott, Tokyo.) Produced by Dai Miyazaki. Executive producers, Toyoyuki Yokohama, Sumiji Miyake, Masumi Okada, Tomiyasu Ishikawa. Co-producers, Kazushi Fumoto, Kazutaka Akimoto. Directed by Hiroshi Ando. Screenplay, Yuka Honcho, based on a comic book by Kiriko Nananan. With: Mikako Ichikawa, Manami Konishi, Asami Imajuku, Jun Murakami. On the surface the tale of a lesbian crush between two schoolgirls, "Blue" reps an impressive, if overlong, feature debut by former vidfilm director Hiroshi Ando that will be of interest to Asian-centered fests and quality cable outlets. A movie of almost pure feelings, with a tangible sense of stillness, pic occasionally skirts pretension but ends up on the plus side thanks to good performances by its two leads, and pristine, highly controlled lensing by d.p. Kazuhiro Suzuki.
A solitary high-school dreamer, Kayako Kirishima (Mikako Ichikawa) happens to see another girl, Masami Endo (Manami Konishi), quietly carried away one day in an ambulance. Some time later, when Masami returns to school, the two meet, and Masami invites Kayako to her home.
They start hanging out together, with the usually morose Kayako happy in the company of the other, more easygoing girl. Kayako loses her virginity to a guy she meets at a party, but it doesn't lead to anything; finally, when Masami's parents are away, the two girls weekend together and share a kiss on a deserted beach.
Though slow and deliberate, the film is played and shot with a beautiful, low-key intensity and sensuality, the obliqueness of the girls' relationship part of the whole emotional fabric. Though Kayako admires Masami for her apparent strength, it later turns out the reverse is also true: Masami admits to a feeling of emptiness and wants to get away from the sleepy town (in Niigata prefecture) to Tokyo. When Masami disappears to visit the man who made her pregnant -- resulting in the abortion that earlier caused her to leave school for a while -- Kayako is thrown back on her own resources.
Dialogue is banal throughout, the film more concerned with the spaces between words than the words themselves. In line with its title, pic is about the state of being dissatisfied ("blue") and the joy of just being together with someone who makes you feel good: As such, it's only peripherally about a lesbian attraction or the old chestnut of a high-school first love.
Especially in the latter half -- when Kayako, left alone, takes up painting -- the picture pushes its wafer-thin material close to mannerism. Two leads, however, are very good: Ichikawa won best actress prize at this summer's Moscow fest for her perf as Kayako, but the hawk-eyed Konishi is equally good as the rebellious Masami. Color scheme of deep blacks (girls' uniforms), solid reds and greens, and azure blues (sky and sea) is resonant throughout.