Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (2010)

Movie Poster

From Gabrielle Zevin’s novel with the same title, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is 2010 drama film starring Maki Horikita, Kenichi Matsuyama, Yuya Tegoshi and Anton Yelchin. It was filmed in Japan with a quarter of the English language and was released on March 27, 2010. It was directed by Hans Canosa and was produced by Kwesi Collisson under Aoi Production and Dot Dot Dot Films.

The story was about a girl who lost 4 years worth of her memories when she fell on the stairs in front of their school. The girl, Naomi Sukuse (Maki Horikita) was helped by a boy from her school for he was the only one who saw the accident; Miwa Yuji (Kenichi Matsuyama) pretended to be her boyfriend so that she could have some company.

Tokyo American School facade

Naomi is a student of Tokyo American School, an international school in Japan. She lives with her father, Goro Sukuse (Atsuro Watabe).  Her best friend Mirai Hasegawa (Yuya Tegoshi), helps fasten regaining her memory through songs burned in CDs. Naomi have a boyfriend named Ace Zuckerman (Anton Yelchin) but feels like she barely knew him at all and refused  to have sex with him on the Homecoming. Naomi and Mirai were members of the yearbook club in their school.

Naomi had a very hard time adjusting to things since she was not used to it and felt like she is a very different person. She also had doubts if the “old” she was even happy in her life. She then decided to cut her hair which gave her a new perspective and feeling. Naomi broke up with Ace the same night of the Homecoming and had a quarrel about Naomi’s new hair which Ace called “stupid”.

Naomi also felt somehow uncomfortable with Mirai since she was unsure about the yearbook. Mirai once mentioned that the yearbook was important for them and that he “believe a good yearbook can create a good school it could even create good students, a good world and a good planet!” and that she might find it boring but they were doing it with conviction. On the other hand, she grew closer and had a special romantic relationship with Yuji. She also joined in a play where she played as the boy main protagonist. She also became close to the people she was not close before like Risa Arisa (Karen Kirishima), her father’s girlfriend/ fiancée and her twin daughters. She also bonded with Alice Leeds (Emma Roberts), the director of the play and others. But as she was experiencing a new life, she was having a gap with her best friend especially when she decided to leave the yearbook.

On the stairs where Naomi had an accident, Yuji and her decided to have fun by collecting their own captured pictures and throwing cameras all over the place. Mirai saw Naomi running carelessly in the stairs and showed concern to her but decided to leave when he realized that it was “none of his business”. As Mirai was walking up the stairs, Naomi suddenly remembered everything. She recalled that she really “chose to dive” and that she was “heading towards something or maybe trying to escape from something” but she decided not to tell anyone about it and acted as if she still had amnesia.

Yuji and Naomi capturing random shots in the stairs

As Naomi was getting some of her textbooks from Yuji’s locker, she saw an envelope from University of Southern California (USC) and decided to give it to him and learned that he passed the exam but Yuji felt indifferent afterwards. One day, Ace was talking to Naomi about tennis; Yuji then suddenly came and punches Ace and told him “Don’t go near her”.

Yuji then went to Los Angeles, California. He then asked Naomi to go there since she promised Yuji that she will go there whenever he feels depressed. Yuji paid for the airfare but made Naomi wait outside the airport for almost two hours.

They went near the seashore and Yuji again left her to get his surfboard for almost an hour or so. He came back with no surfboard in his hands. Naomi asked him what was really happening with him since he is being indifferent again. He told her that he went to a cemetery where he found his self looking for his brother’s grave yet he do not even know where it is. Naomi was contacted by her father that she will be going home the next morning. . As Naomi was on the plane, she watched the presentation burned in a CD that Mirai made for her birthday.

On a payphone, she called Mirai and thanked him for the presentation. There she learnt about Winnie (Kylee) and Mirai dating.  Her father fetched her from the airport and declared that she is grounded and as they were on their way home, she confessed to her father that she remembers everything.

One day, Naomi contacted Yuji through a payphone and learnt that Yuji was in a hospital in Nagano. She asked Mirai to accompany her. He doesn’t really want to but he can’t tolerate Naomi. They took the train to Nagano and went to Yuji. There, Naomi confessed that she remembers everything, that despite it, she still likes Yuji. Mirai did not want to believe that Naomi had already remembered everything the last two months so he walked out and declared that he will just wait outside. Yuji and Naomi went outside also but had a serious talk about how embarrassed he is that Naomi sees him as patient in a mental hospital. He also told Naomi everything that he felt.

Naomi and Mirai on the train to Nagano

On their way home, Mirai and Naomi had dinner and talked about their past. Mirai said that they were having a more special relationship that being best friends and that he was about to confess to her the day the accident happened but was not able to do so since she was not even able to remember him  and also talked about how their relationship changed afterwards.

One day, Naomi received a postcard from Yuji with words written “Forget Me”. That was the time where she learned that she had to move on because that was also what Yuji wants her to do.

the "Forget Me" letter from Yuji

Things were falling at the places where they should fall especially when Ace tried to convince and made Naomi agree to play tennis again. They had a better relationship than they did before as friends. Ace also apologized to Naomi for the things that he had done and the bad things that he said when they broke up. Naomi apologized too.

While watching TV with her father and his fiancée Risa, someone called on Naomi’s phone and told her that Mirai was in the hospital. Naomi visited Mirai their closeness grew back especially when Mirai asked Naomi to take in charge of doing the unfinished business for their yearbook. After the yearbook was finished, she brought a copy to Mirai and had laughs together.

One day on a boat while cruising, Naomi had a heart to heart talk with her father, where she learned a lot of things. On her father’s wedding day, she served as the official photographer at the request of Risa.

On Graduation day as she was taking pictures, Yuji’s mother asked if she and Yuji could have a picture together. There, she remembered everything that Yuji and her shared together. They also had some kind of a closure.

As Naomi and Mirai were walking down the stairs where Naomi had her accident, they shared a type of silence that was not awkward and even describe it as “silence between us sounded like a melody”.

Naomi and Mirai

The film was very technical and has a very creative way of showcasing the story visually. Since the film requires a lot of photographs and some videos, they showed the pictures in the screen like it was a projector so that they don’t have to do another shot and instead have the viewers see it on screen itself. The film was made with artistic-ness so with the Formalist Film Theory the film makers justified the elements of the film. The lighting was perfect and there were no dark shots that could off the mood. One of my favorite elements in the film was the scoring because it describes a certain act and helps in building up the emotion. They used some background effects which were not really noticeable but since I am watching it closely and observantly, I did and I should applaud them because they did it in a complementary way. The editing was good though it was not as seamless as American films were since they used mostly Japanese methods in making the film. The shot composition was amazing like what I mentioned a while ago, they did some good tricks at showing the pictures in the camera, and the angles fit the scenes. Establishing shots were made but there are some settings where it kind of took my time to realize where they are since they did set up the mood by establishing it.

Maki Horikita is a Japanese Actress who played as the main protagonist Naomi Sukuse. Her acting was not all out because I kind of feel that she is somewhat conscious at how she acts. I like her character in the movie though since I am a teenager myself and can relate through some things that she has gone through. Her character is very personal to me because she did some things that I did and will do but nevertheless even if she is not greatest actor to play the role, I like her very much. Kenichi Matsuyama on the other hand, never disappointed me with his acting skills. I have watched several films with him as an actor and he always surprises me with every role that he plays. He was perfect as Yuji Miwa and gave so much justice to his role. His face were so expressive and his action were so moving that the scene where they he had a serious talk with Naomi, I felt him so much. It was so genuine so aside from the creative shots of this film, I will raise my two thumbs up to Mr. Matsuyama. Yuya Tegoshi played as Mirai Hasegawa and was not as outstanding as Horikita and Matsuyama considering that he was one of the main characters. His facial expressions were not as convincing as it should be which he should have given so much importance because his role was so big and necessary. Anton Yelchin, an American actor, played as Ace Zuckerman and like Tegoshi, he was not as convincing for the role. He delivered the lines in a scripted way and I was somewhat disappointed with that. The minor roles like Winnie, Alice and the others were not great yet good. On the other hand, Naomi’s father, Goro Sukuse was played by Atsuro Watabe and its fiancée, Risa Arisa played by Karen Kirishima, were good in their respective roles. Their facial expression was good and It felt like they were not acting at all.

The film was very personal to me not just to Naomi but about everything. Somehow I feel the movie with all my heart for unknown reasons. There are things that we want to forget, things that we want to escape but at some point in our lives, we must learn how to face them. We must know who we are first before we can know other people. We must love our selves first before we can love each other. We must also not rush to forget things because as what Mr. Sukuse said when they were cruising that we will somehow forget the people that we truly love, even the people who we think we’ll remember till the very end and “that’s why the waves of memories get thinner.. It’s because it’s possible to forget those things that it makes it possible for us to love someone else in the future.”

(c) Angelu Gawaran

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (2010) trailer: