Follow The Light

Out in the countryside, far from Tokyo where he lived when his parents were still together, Akira (Tsubasa Nakagawa) can see for miles and miles, yet still he feels constrained. He’s full of resentment at the way his life has been overturned, and as if having to start at a new school were not troublesome enough, he'll soon have to do it all over again. That school is scheduled to close because so many people are moving away from the area. Rice farming doesn't bring in the money that it used to. All of the students are unhappy, finding only a modicum of solace in preparations for a closing ceremony.

Maki (Itsuki Nagasawa) doesn’t even bother to go to school anymore. She spends the days standing on the roof of her uncle’s barn, from which she can see still further. Perhaps she searching for a glimpse of those who have left her behind, or some other sign of hope. Akira is fascinated by her. He draws her picture, but winning her trust is another matter – at least until fate lends a hand.

In an age when young people are growing up with little hope, where education only leads to sharper awareness of the existential peril we face, there is a renewed longing for gods, heroes, ancient secrets, brilliant discoveries – anything that might yet turn it all around. Where The Thing From Another World once advised us to keep watching to skies out of caution, increasingly people look upwards and outwards for salvation. The appearance of bright lights in the sky over this quiet rural town gets everybody excited – not least Akira and the shy, awkward boy he’s recently befriended at school, who happen to be cycling through the fields at the time and excitedly give chase. There thy find a crop circle – but Maki has found it first. To her, it’s a sacred space which she doesn’t want to share. Akira vows to keep the secret, but ultimately events will overwhelm them both.

A sweet tale which explores the precariousness of late childhood, as young people take on more responsibility for the world around them and come to carry more secret pain, Follow The Light explores the need of individuals and communities to believe in something bigger than themselves. Screening as part of Fantasia 2021, it’s a film full of lonely characters shaped by petty rivalries which shift when confronted with that awareness, as children generally begin to let go of petty things when their horizons expand. All of these young people, and some of the older ones, are emotionally clumsy in their own ways, wounding others even when they don’t mean to, yet there is tenderness between them.

With universal themes, this is a film which has the potential to travel well outside Japan, and it benefits from excellent English subtitling which translates difficult concepts with grace and skill. It’s gently paced around a handful of dramatic moments, characters trying to hold their emotions in check until they can do so no more. We never see the lights on the sky, only the effect they have on people. Gradually, Akira gets to know his new environment, discovering that there’s more to it than first met his eye. Follow The Light reminds us that the future remains full of possibilities and that no matter how good our vantage point, we can never see everything.