Halfway

2009 [JAPANESE]

Action / Drama / Romance

4
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 39%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 39% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 466 466

woman director

Plot summary

In this high school romance Hiro is dismayed to learn her new love Shu will be going away to college in Tokyo. She asks him not to go.

Director

Eriko Kitagawa Photo
Eriko Kitagawa

Top cast

Miho Shiraishi Photo
Miho Shiraishi as Matsuura
Riisa Naka Photo
Riisa Naka as Meme
Hiroki Narimiya Photo
Hiroki Narimiya as Takanashi
Masaki Okada Photo
Masaki Okada as Shu Shinozaki
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
780.1 MB
1280*720
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 24 min
Seeds 1
1.41 GB
1920*1080
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 24 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Anawrahta

Indy Japanese Teen Romance

I'm the kind of person who likes to try random genres of film, and I have a special weakness for anything from Japan and Korea. Without hesitation I gave "Halfway" a try.It's a very simple story about two high school seniors who fall for each other and then find themselves on diverging paths. Nothing particularly original here. The dialogue and the romance stays as basic as what I imagine a relationship at the grade school level would be like in the West. That surprised me to say the least, although being as the story is set in rural Hokkaido, the northern Island of Japan, far from futuristic Tokyo, it is believable.The cinematography is excellent, despite being shot hand held, it captures the warm fading glow of autumn, a good allusion to the senior year of high school. Interesting also is that most of the scenes could be anywhere in North America, or even Europe, instead of the focus on Tokyo's concrete jungle we often see in films set in Japan.The deal maker or breaker for this film is the pacing, the dialogue, and ultimately the story. If you like slow pacing, limited bursts of dialogue that try to convey a sense of what I can only imagine is a real high school relationship in this setting, you will enjoy this film. On the other hand, if you prefer faster pacing, more complex story lines and dialogue with more wit or edge, you will find this film's 85 minutes excessively long.I tend to lean towards the latter but I take exception for this film because it gave me a slice of life from somewhere I could never have experienced, in a beautifully shot package.
Reviewed by mister_bateman 5 / 10

A mellow romance movie

As others have already noted, this one is a little slow paced. Also, there isn't really much of a coherent story, intriguing plot development, or big character arc, it's more like a collage of random scenes, snapshots from the lives of the protagonists as they start dating and getting to know each other. I guess it's a nice and cozy watch, but you have to be in the mood for it, or you might get a little bored, like I did. The two biggest aspects I didn't like about it were the characters aren't particularly interesting, and they overdid it a bit with the shaky camera.
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