Fourteen

Fourteen is a dark film about a crucial point in life, the passage from being a child to an adult. In a Japanese school this is sometimes expressed as desperation – and sometimes violence. The film starts with a sequence where a teacher is interrogating a girl about why she set fire to the school pet cage. The sequence ends inexplicably with the girl knifing him in the back. We understand that we have seen a key event and spend the rest of the film placing the rest of the pieces. The film is good as well as disquieting, like Japanese coming-of-age films often are. With sincere engagement, Hirosue delivers a film with an intensity that keeps us on the alert. bb