“Who would drown in water?”
“Swimming in the Sand Pool,'' based on a high school play by the Tokushima City High School Drama Club, plays the role of a stage play well, but it is unique in that most of the story takes place inside the pool. Other similar works.
It's summer vacation, but Kokoro, a high school student, and Miku, a beautiful girl, receive instructions from physical education teacher Yamamoto to clean the pool. The water in the pool has been drained and the area is filled with sand from the baseball team's field next door. The girls are reluctant to wear makeup in the hot sun, but Miku quickly gets into an argument with her teacher because she wears makeup against her school's rules. Furthermore, Chizuru, a slightly strange girl who practices swimming while bragging about how she looks like a pitcher on a baseball team while sitting on a chair in an empty pool, and Yui, a girl who isn't supposed to be there, also appear soon. Join your friends. The girls discuss school life, the concept of beauty and makeup, love, etc., but eventually friction with their teacher grows.
Director Atsuhiro Yamashita certainly proved he could make a coming-of-age school drama with Linda Linda Linda, but this time he's dealing with a completely different animal, and Swimming in a Sand Pool is inherently dialogue-heavy; Essentially, it is a work with a lot of dialogue. Single location movies. So it will be interesting to see what “tricks” he pulls off to keep the film from turning out to be a complete stage play. The first is that it is obviously a specific location, and the sand-filled pool is a fairly unique location, and is used within the story using cinematography and framing, as is the case with the placement of the girls in the film. Well implemented. It's very complicated. As for the visuals, the focus on the girl's legs borders on fan service, but Yamashita has toned down that particular aspect.
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The second is a moment of friction and tension that breaks up the rather flat story in the most interesting way. Chizuru's demeanor and her overall demeanor is definitely a factor in that, her actions and words, especially those regarding her love interests, are hilarious to watch, and she's endearingly quirky. The second is that her students clearly dislike Yamamoto and her strictness, and Miku ends up having a pretty vocal fight with her, but this is probably the most memorable part of the movie. It's a great scene.
Director Yamashita strives to express through a number of short scenes that behind the teacher's strictness, there is love for the students, while Miku is popular but has become a cynic, and she becomes a cynic among her classmates. Being the type of person who looks down on many, this fight also emphasizes that the girl is actually already a woman and treats her teachers as equals, which is not the case with her classmates. Third, Chizuru's baseball game is definitely in mind, with several scenes that take her away from the pool, if not particularly far away.
The dialogue also becomes quite interesting, especially as the film approaches its finale. While the concept of beauty in the school environment is talked about as if menstruation is a problem or something to be exploited, there is a much richer context here in how students have to deal with failure. It concludes.
The editing results in a predictably slow pace, but the aforementioned elements lend a sense of movement to a otherwise “static” film, but at 87 minutes the film clearly doesn't overstay its welcome. yeah.
Saki Hamao, who plays Miku, stands out for her somewhat “bitch” attitude, and the same goes for Mikuri Kiyotani, who draws attention as the quirky Chizuru. Lastly, Honami Sato, who plays the role of the teacher, is as wonderful as ever, even though she plays a supporting role.
Although “Swimming in a Sand Pool'' is much closer to a stage play, there are enough cinematic elements to transcend the constraints of similar films, and the quality of the dialogue, acting, and characterization make it definitely worth seeing.
