Japanese Professional Movie Award |
| Best Actress |
It may look like just another saccharine love-triangle romance, but 'Hana and Alice' is actually a deceptively tender and subtle paean to how gorgeous and sweet friendship can be. Although initially we have two high-school girls, Anne Suzuki and Aoi Yuu, squabble over a hapless senior, the film isn't really about teen crushes and jealousy.
Director Shunji Iwai is most comfortable chronicling the magic and heartbreak of high school years, and HANA AND ALICE emerges as an intimate, stylish, and often quietly amusing character portrait. The strengths of the story come from the chemistry of ordinary characters filmed in a loose narrative.
