Look Back: Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Scenic Postcard of Grief and Creation

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Look Back (2026) is a live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s 2021 one-shot manga, following the acclaimed 2024 animated film by Kiyotaka Oshiyama. Where Oshiyama, a former Studio Ghibli animator, delivered a 53-minute animated gem, Kore-eda—the Palme d’Or-winning director of Shoplifters—expands the story to 100 minutes, retelling the bittersweet tale of two schoolgirls bonded by their shared love of comics .

The film follows Fujino (Natsuki Deguchi), a confident primary schooler praised for her four-panel comics, and Kyomoto (Aju Makita), a reclusive truant whose extraordinary illustrations ignite a competitive fire in Fujino . What begins as rivalry blossoms into partnership, then fractures when Kyomoto leaves for art school. A tragedy forces Fujino to confront why she draws at all.

Kore-eda’s adaptation is faithful to Oshiyama’s anime, which was itself remarkably faithful to Fujimoto’s manga. Yet the live-action version draws rich and dazzling new textures from its source. Shot on film in Fujimoto’s native Akita Prefecture, the movie captures the seasons’ passage with a documentary-like intimacy . The expanded runtime allows Kore-eda to linger on gestures, silences, and the physical act of drawing—Deguchi and Makita trained for four months to authentically portray manga creation .

The two leads previously collaborated with Kore-eda on the Netflix series The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House . Their chemistry is extraordinary. Deguchi’s Fujino is brash yet fragile, her bravado cracking into something raw; Makita’s Kyomoto is all whispered vulnerability and quiet obsession.

Compared to Kore-eda’s Shoplifters or Our Little Sister, Look Back shares the director’s signature concern with family—here, the chosen family of artistic collaborators. But where those films examined blood ties, this explores creative kinship and its ruptures. The film earned a 12-minute standing ovation at its Venice Film Festival premiere, with both actresses visibly moved.

The scene composition is breathtaking, each frame composed like a scenic postcard. Wide shots place the girls small within vast landscapes, emphasising their insignificance against time and loss. The film’s Hong Kong premiere was graced by Deguchi and Makita, who travelled to the city for special Q&A sessions, underscoring the story’s remarkable international reach .

Look Back is not merely an adaptation; it is a meditation on why we make art. Kore-eda, who confessed to weeping throughout production, captures the ache of creation and the grace of looking back.

Elven Ho