Title: Nana aka Nana the Movie
Genre: Drama
Director: Outani Kentarou
Format: Movie; 113 minutes.
Dates: 3 September 2005

Synopsis: A chance encounter on a train stopped by a snowstorm is the beginning of an unlikely but deep friendship between two girls who are both named Nana but have completely different personalities.

The Highlights
Characters: Very strong and likeable personalities for both Nanas.
Music: Awesome rock music.
Plot: Very touching with a slice-of-life quality.
Actors: Brilliant performances by Nakashima Mika and Miyazaki Aoi.

Nana is a popular and lengthy manga series, and just recently received a release in anime form. This incarnation of Nana, a live action movie, takes a single story arc from the manga. Thus, the movie has a slice-of-life feel to it, since there is definitely more story to follow and this is only a small snippet of the overall Nana universe. But the quality of this movie doesn’t suffer for being so tightly focused. On the contrary, Nana the Movie is the perfect standalone introduction into the Nana world.

The plot of the movie focuses around the developing friendship between the two Nanas, which plays out very realistically even despite the radical differences in their personalities. Although at the beginning you can’t help but wonder what they have in common, the two women support each other through different trials and connect so believably during the course of the story that, by the end, their friendship becomes the most natural thing in the world.

The strongest quality of this movie lies in the two main characters, who carry the drama of this movie admirably. Both Nanas are just awesome characters who develop dynamically throughout the course of the movie. Komatsu Nana (hereafter known by her nickname “Hachi”) is played believably by Miyazaki Aoi. Hachi is a very sweet girl, with an optimistic outlook on life. Even though she is self-centered in the beginning of the movie, by the end we can see she has learned to think about others as well.

Osaki Nana, however, steals the show. A rocker determined to chase her dream of making it big with her band, she is a very charismatic and cool person around whom the other characters gravitate. But even though she is calm and jaded, it is not hard to see from the way she treats Hachi that she is a warm and kind person inside, someone who is loyal and sweet herself. Gradually, throughout the movie, she opens up to Hachi. Nana is brought to life with a brilliant performance by Nakashima Mika, who perfectly portrays both the cool collectedness and the gentle hidden heart of the rock singer.

I can’t finish this review without mentioning the music in Nana. Every song in the movie is a good song, from the cheerful “Journey” to the slow “Endless Story,” both performed by Nana’s rival band Trapnest. The best song, however, is the one that Nana’s band, the Black Stones, play. “Glamorous Sky” is a beautiful and catchy rock song that would easily be a hit in the real world. It is the perfect song to enhance this rock-focused movie.

Nana is an excellent and dramatic movie. It is easily accessible to anyone, whether they have read the Nana manga or not. Hachi and Nana are unforgettable characters, and the plot is moving and believable. I would highly recommend this to anyone.

The Rating: 9

Reviewed by: dheu