Starting Over

Jesus Christ, Starting Over. This movie is like they put a list of sad things that could happen in an average, every day life into a hat. And then they picked every single one of them to put in the movie.

The film is about a quiet, sad 19-year old named Nana. Nana’s mother is sick and in the hospital. Part-time, Nana works as a sex worker. Her closest connection is to a girl named Marin. The shy and quiet Nana actually manages a smile when Marin’s around. But as I said, this movie is just a never ending list of sad stuff. The moments of joy Nana and Marin share are just momentary sighs of relief.

Here is an non-extensive list of sad topics Starting Over covers: serious illness, death of a family member, homophobia, sexism, rape, abortion, break-ups and the general depression that comes from being alive. This is most definitely a feel-bad movie. All of these topics definitely make the film an unpleasant sit. However, so many of them packed into one film divides focus. Any one of those topics can and has made me cry in other movies. But in Starting Over, it keeps jumping to the next sad thing before lingering on the previous one. The film is pretty relentlessly sad. But it’s so unfocused in its sadness that it ends up less affecting than it could be.

The most notable scene is an emotional scene between Nana and Marin. Nana is upset that Marin is closeted and won’t acknowledge her or their relationship in public. Marin is upset with Nana about her working as a sex worker. The scene is devastating. The dialogue is good and the problems feel real. But what really makes it is the choice to have most of the scene depicted from one shot. Much of the scene depicts a heavy close-up of Marin while she cries. It’s some real Timothee Chalamet at the end of Call Me By Your Name shit. It’s really affecting and actress Nina Endô knocks it out of the park.

Much of the tragedy comes from the way society treats Nana. Especially as a queer woman. Nana experiences quite a lot of sexism and gendered assault, especially in her job as a sex worker. When she comes home to Marin, it’s always with the knowledge there’s no legal framework to protect their relationship. Is there a scene where Nana googles marriage laws in Japan and cries while Marin sleeps? Of course! Starting Over in so many ways feels like an anguished cry through art. It paints a very bleak picture of being queer or a woman in Japan. There’s a sense of real artistic agony in the unrelenting choice to focus on sadness in the film.

Starting Over is objectively, a fine movie. The directing is fine, but unremarkable. The story holds together well. There’s some good acting from the two leads. But it’s really hard for me to give it a positive review just because it’s not just sad, but unfocused. This is such a bleak film that I can’t exactly call entertaining because it’s too sad. Yet I didn’t cry watching Starting Over. And I’m a big crier at movies. So to me, that means something’s not quite worked here. Starting Over is like an tasting plate of sad shit. But if I’m going to engage with these topics, I prefer a whole meal than a quick sample.

Overall rating: 5.4/10

Other WLW films in similar genres