Hotaru no hoshi (2003) User Reviews

The primary school teacher we all should have had.

[saintmik · 9/10 · 26 June 2005]

Director Hiroshi Sugawara's "Hotaru no Hoshi" (Fireflies: River of Light) (2003) gives us the primary school teacher we all should have had: Tokyoite Hajime Miwa (Yukiyoshi Ozawa).

Although his unorthodox teaching methods mirror the bad-boy-turned-educator of the "GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka" series, or even that of Soseki's "Botchan", Hajime is the squeaky-clean goody-goody young gentleman of great expectations that even the cool kids can't help liking.

As is the case with many modern Japanese films, it is worth sticking it out through the occasional sappy bits near the beginning in order to enjoy the predictable, but nevertheless satisfying, ending.

Mike!

Hotaru no Hoshi is a warm story about a young teacher who fights against Japan's regimented school system, and in doing so earns the respect of his students

[rajio · 9/10 · 18 December 2004]

"Hotaru no Hoshi" is quite a wonderful film. It is a warm story about a young teacher who has some good ideas about teaching, but he finds himself up against Japan's regimented and conservative school system.

As a class project he decides to raise Hotaru (fireflies). Through the project his students become united and end up cleaning up a local river so the fireflies will have a home.

Hiroshi Sugawara who directed this film was offered a part in "The Last Samurai" starring Tom Cruise. He rejected the part to make this film. When he approached people to get the film made, they asked him if it had a love interest, he answered that the only love scenes were the fireflies. They asked if there was any action, to which he answered there was no action. They then asked, how long would it take to make and his answer was he needed 12 months so he could capture all the seasons. They thought he was crazy but thankfully someone saw the potential and the film was made.

Nothing new, but special all the same...

[PutShady · 9/10 · 13 July 2006]

First of all, let me say English is not my first language. Chances are I'll make a couple of grammatical errors. Let me apologies in advance.

This is the first time I'm writing a review on IMDb, and I really don't have that much to say, but since this particular movie doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves I'll have a go at it.

I just finished watching it. It's been part of my Asian cinema collecting for maybe two weeks now, and after viewing Miike's "Gozu" yesterday it was time to give this film a go. The story is far from original. A young teacher has trouble handling his class. One day the idea of raising fireflies is suggested by one of the children, and it seems like a good project for everyone to get to know each other, and do some bonding. As you might expect, there are some kids that don't get along too well, there's an outcast that refuses to communicate with the others, and some other familiar characters. This all changes during the movie though... You can probably guess the rest of the story.

Fortunatly, there's a lot more to the movie than just the story itself. The characters, although unoriginal, are done quite well thanks to more than decent acting by the child-actors. You've got to give the director and the rest of the crew credit, if not only for having the children run with their feet tied together without them falling all over each other every two seconds. The pacing is good for the most part - I never got bored - and I'm a sucker for Japanese architecture and scenery. The school-building felt to me like a warm place, especially thanks to the way it's implemented in the surrounding nature (I hope this makes any sense). It's something I personally don't see to often, but really enjoy.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this is very much a film for those who enjoy nice scenery, some good acting and a little peek into another culture, but it's nothing groundbreaking. I liked it a lot, though I'm not really sure why.

I hope more replies will follow, I'd love to hear how other feel about the movie.