Firefly Dreams (2001) User Reviews (9)

Very beautiful movie

[ebiros2 · 8/10 · 14 July 2009]

This movie sets its story in two opposing contrasts one about urban life and country living, and another about young and old. Yumi, lives a shallow life like many teenage girls living in urban Japan until her father sends her to country side where their relatives live for the summer. She befriends Ms Koide, an old lady who used to be an actress.

Removed from the urban life, and seeing the contrast between her who has whole life ahead of herself, and an elderly Ms Koide who has nothing to look forward to in life, Yumi begins to put things into perspective about her own life.

This realization comes very gradually, so the movie seems slow, but the story is told in a very beautiful way. Almost all the people living around her in the city is very selfish, people living in the country aren't as privileged, but are more caring. Yumi gets a chance to reassess her life between the two opposing environment.

Kind of a coming of age story for an urban girl, but also has message for all of us about what life is all about.

Highly recommended.

Great choice of scenery!

[miss-sarah-andrea-amy · 8/10 · 4 September 2005]

This film alludes the life of a brat from Nagoya, problem teenager from a dysfunctional family, to the life of a former movie actress from the 1930s who is now suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Most of the scenes are cast in the city of Shinshiro, Aichi, and the town of Horai, Aichi (which will become part of Shinshiro in October 2005), both very small cities away from the visually overwhelming Japanese urban landscape. The unstaffed and deserted train platform of the JR Iida line, a small (and an actual) hospital, the unpolluted river, waterfalls, forests and the hot spring inns are remnants of old Japan, and so are the fireflies, fireworks and a summer festival at local shrine grounds.

Director John Williams captures the beauty of rural Japan and the wide cultural gap as well as geographical contrast between the urban teenager's Nagoya (fourth largest municipality in Japan) and Koide-san's farm house up on the hill in the Oku Mikawa Highland region, while on the interpersonal and spiritual levels connecting the common elements between these two women from two different generations.

A city girl learns important things in countryside

[youmumiller · 6/10 · 10 August 2017]

A young girl, Naomi is a typical bad girl of city. One day, she gets to go to her relative's home in countryside. Then she comes to take care of an old woman, Ms. Koide. Naomi is under 20 years old, so she must not drink or smoke but Ms. Koide does not blame her. Therefore she can behave as she is in front of Ms. Koide. Naomi comes to learn many things through the life with her. This is not only a story of one girl's growing but also an old woman's last story. The scene of Japan's countryside is also beautiful. You may get a good feeling through this movie.

G-rated Visitor Q

[Jerry-Kurjian · 6/10 · 30 March 2006]

Firefly Dreams is basically a nice story about returning to traditional values in the face of the ugliness and shallowness of urban life. Packed off to relatives in the countryside by her parents, a young woman develops a variety of friendships - in particular one with an elderly woman who, it seems, has had an interesting past - and discovers herself in the process. What sets this film apart from others in the genre is the degree of understatement that pervades it. Events occur off camera and connections between events are made, but there is refreshingly little explication, leaving viewers to think for themselves. I would not call Firefly Dreams a masterpiece; the story is fairly predictable and simplistic, the characters are pretty generic, and the cinematography is unchallenging. But it is a nice film and leaves some tantalizing questions to mull over even as you return the DVD to the store.

A truly beautiful, but unusual Japanese movie

[henri_aqua · 10/10 · 16 November 2001]

Firefly Dreams is a movie about the friendship between a young teenage girl and an old Lady who she visits in her summer holidays. Naomi is a spoiled brat and send by her father to the countryside, after her mother runs away. There she works at the restaurant of her aunt and uncle. Close lives also Mrs Koide with whom she used to play when she was a kid. From there the story unfolds. I have to praise almost all aspects of the movie. The plot is well thought and all characters are believable and very interesting even the ones who just appear in a few scenes. The photography is marvellous, the landscape is breathtaking and rounds up the plot very nicely. The aesthetic is very different from recent Japanese movies I saw (e.g. from Kitano). It is violent free and it is set mainly in a rural area. Maybe this is so because the director is English and chose a different approach for portraying Japanese life, but this is just a speculation. The acting is great and for me this is the first time I think I learned something about normal Japanese everyday life through a movie. Surely the development of Naomi, how she grows up - and indeed has to grow up - through friendship and also sorrow, is the driving force of the movie. The movie has a slow pace, so if you are an action-movie fan, don't go. Everybody else: you will not regret it!

3 stars

[mweston · 7/10 · 18 April 2002]

The plot of this film reminded me of "On Golden Pond." In this case a teenage girl who is somewhat troubled is sent off to the country when her parents separate. She becomes reacquainted with an elderly relative who is suffering from Alzheimer's.

The pace of the film is slow, but the scenery is spectacularly beautiful, which most of us would not have expected from Japan as most films there are set in the big cities. The sounds of the cicadas made my wife very homesick for the country where she grew up.

The film tied for the audience award for best dramatic feature at Cinequest (the San Jose, CA film festival), which is where I saw it on 2/26/2002.

Intelligent,enchanting and realistic

[mel2surf · 9/10 · 27 October 2007]

Firefly Dreams took me right into the story,and the dreamy pace/visual beauty,and heartfelt emotions added to the charm.Naomi's journey through pain and loss is very charmingly portrayed here,and all the characters are well placed.Nothing seems forced or overly contrived..more like you are in the locations and absorbing Naomi's everyday life,and the character of Mrs. Koide,the old woman/ex actress will warm your heart.it's VERY refreshing to see films like this,where you are not distracted by noise,gun fights,explosions and special effects.Mr.Williams has created a real gem.Visually and emotionally lush! See it!

beautiful

[b-96128 · 8/10 · 3 March 2019]

Firefly Dreams is a film shoot by a foreign filmmaker, but it was full of Japaneseness. The story is about the interaction between a high school girl Naomi and senior woman Ms. Koide. Naomi is a rough-and-tumble girl, smokes and drinks, and often skips school. One day, her father suggests staying in the countryside during the summer. She is very reluctant but accepts. At there, she meets Ms. Koide who is over 80 years and having dementia. She gradually enjoys her life in the countryside but gets a call telling that her father is dead. After a while, she is told that her mother is going to get married again, and gets the news that Ms. Koide is in danger, and then died. At first, she thinks that living with relatives in the countryside is very troublesome, but she gains, learns, enjoys a lot. I lliked this fim because the suffering of Japanese teenagers at that time is beautifully depicted. However, the ending was open so that some people might think the way of end the story is a little bit vague.

Summer time flies too slowly

[bongiovi-44006 · 5/10 · 30 July 2017]

This film is about the change of the high school girl in the summer vacation. She had got wild because of her family problems but by staying with her cousin's family and getting involved with an old lady, something changes in her personality. She is very straightforward and her attitude are quite easily affected by her feelings. Especially she frequently changes her attitudes towards her innocent cousin. This seems too childish for me, so I do not like her. And some bond between she and the old lady made changes in her but when and why did they come so intimate? In our daily lives it often occurs that people become friendly before we know, though. Probably I think I demand reasons too much in stories.

I raise the part I didn't like above, but I liked the music used in this film and the scenery of the countryside. That made me feel relaxed.