Where Are You? (2009)

Story of a high school kid in a rather desperate situation. Like Bashing (also by Kobayashi), I feel the main character is slightly exaggerated, which cheapens the tragedy of a very real story. Anyway, I feel like I have seen enough of Kobayashi’s films now to have expectations, and his style seems to be much narrower than I had originally thought. His characterizations are not particularly strong. Also, I am not a fan of his handheld camera, which is occasionally so dizzying that I cannot watch the screen.

I don’t know how I feel about Kobayashi using his son as the main character. Something tells me mixing the professional and family dynamics is a mistake.