and I'm fresh out of candy. Would you settle for some music?
based on the English novel "Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac" written by Gabrielle Zevin, the film (also scripted by Zevin) transplants the story to an international school in modern Tokyo.
Naomi Sukuse has just fallen down the stairs. Well, not fallen - more like dove. She's lost four years of her memory. She doesn't know the woman sitting in her father's car. Her best friend Mirai Hasegawa is a stranger to her. Her boyfriend, Ace - might as well be another gajin in the crowd.
And then there's Yuji....
Directed by Hans Canosa (Conversations with Other Women) and featuring Japan's brightest young talent (Maki Horikita, Kenichi Matsuyama, Yuya Tegoshi) and American actors Anton Yelchin and Emma Roberts, 誰かが私にキスをした (Dareka ga watashi ni kiss wo shita) is a new take on the high school romance trope as Hans and his cast (for the most part) seamlessly blend a traditional Japanese pure love story with an American outlook and sense of style. For anyone who's ever gone to an International High School (or just a high school with a large non native English speaking population) or is multilingual, the switching between languages shouldn't be too much of a plot device, and the interpreter kept most of the best lines from Gabrielle's novel intact.
Music is an integral part of the film and Gabrielle chose all the music for it - here's the playlist (or as Mirai would have wanted - the mix CD)
1)The Grey Estates - Wolf Parade (yearbook opening credits)
2)Elephant & Castle - The Age of Rockets (hospital/taxi)
3)Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed - the Silver Jews (Naomi's first day back)
4)She Wishes - Kylee (car ride with Mirai & Hasegawa-san)
5)On My Own - Kylee (Party with Ace)
6)Nobody Knows Me at All - The Weepies (hair cut scene)
7)It Ain't Gonna Save Me - Jay Reatard (Naomi as Hamlet)
8)Just Impolite - Plushgun (Homecoming)
9)No Time - Jay Reatard (Wrap Party)
10)Winter - Joshua Radin (Naomi & Yuji sled on the stairs)
11)Once we were monsters - The Age of Rockets (Naomi & Yuji & Sid & Nancy)
12)Avada Kedavra - The Age of Rockets (Naomi & Yuji Photo Stairs)
13)Stitches to Show Something's Missing - The Age of Rockets (Naomi's Point of View/Remember Mirai)
14)Better than Love - Griffin House (Songs for A Teenage Amnesiac - Mirai's mix cd)
15)These Tears Could Rust a Train - Theater Fire (Mirai & Naomi go to Nagano)
16)Woke Up New - The Mountain Goats (Mirai's Confession)
17)Riga Girls - The Weepies (Ace & Naomi talk)
18)Slow Pony Home - The Weepies (Futurama)
19)You've got growin' up to do - Joshua Radin ft. Patty Griffin (Wedding/Graduation)
20)Brand New Day - Joshua Radin (A Nostalgic Melody)
21)キミがいるから - Kylee (ending credits)
For fans of the English novel - Naomi is still Naomi, Will is Mirai, James is Yuji and Ace is Ace.
how could you forget me?