Born with It (2015) Reviews

• realism becoming poetry

  Kirpianuscus2018-08-01

  A film about racism. and bullying . and discrimination. and guilty. and integration . realistic for the performance of child actors. for photography. and for the delicacy defining it as Japanes film more than any other detail. a boy. and his classmates. a rumour. and the simplicity transforming the film in a sort of poem about self confidence, roots and the other. important - its universal message.

• A realistic take on discrimination among Japanese youth

  velianne-872042018-07-11

  A young Japanese black skinned boy named Keisuke moves to the countryside with his mother and enters a new school as a transfer student. Due to his skin color and "non-typical Japanese" features, he starts getting bullied by his young classmates. Having difficulties coping with his classmates' remarks, he will however find comfort in his mother's words but also in a new and unexpected friendship. I can say without a doubt that I really enjoyed this short Japanese film. Discrimination against "half" children in Japan has been a real social problem for years, and even with Japan opening its borders and mindset more and more as years pass, hurtful remarks and stereotyping remains a problem, particularly in the Japanese countryside, where diversity is scarce. Not a lot of films shine the light on this problem, but "Born with It" does and does it in a very realistic and touching manner. Indeed, Keisuke's daily life in the school seems relatable for any other half children that have been through the same kind of bullying. But the main aspect that touched me was the fact that the story doesn't take the simple way out for its ending and remains very realistic. Finally, the cinematography of the film was in my opinion really aesthetic, with colors more in the darker tones, fitting the seriousness of the issue touched upon. In the same way I also found the light music heard throughout the film to be really fitting.

• I don't like this movie, because It is too real.

  saoatama2018-06-30

  SPOILER: Born with it I don't like this movie. It is too real. In Japanese school (or company or society), there are a phenomenon called Ijime, which people who belongs to a group ignore a member or talk behind her/his back. Protest is no use, because perpetrators are amused at the protest and more bully her/him. Some people think that victims of ijime have reasons to be bullied and not a few adults support this absurd thought. And victims whose pride are deeply hurt begin to think they may have good reason to be bullied. This movie shows this feeling vividly. Perpetraitors exactlly know what they do. They enjoy hurting someone and someone's agony but they don't think Ijime is dirty violence. It is said that children are innocent. Mean people are born with it. Villan in this movie is a typical peretrator of ijime. He says Keisuke is AIDS because he is "foreigner". He knows it hurts Keisuke but it is a joke for him because that joke hurts Keisuke not himself. And there are other perpetrators: other class mates who talk behind Keisuke's back. They know that "joke" is inappropriate but almost no one blame that mean boy. It is also common in Japan. I can feel this helpless atmosphere through screen. Keisuke cannot get out of this situation by himself as many bullied Japanese students do. His mother's irresponsible encouragement and indecisive information about AIDS his friend finds on internet will not help him. I know Keisuke's school days ends up in tragedy. There's no hope unless perpetrators change.

• for my review

  sayakano2019-03-04

  This film represents what is happening in current elemantary school. In recent years, the more time we spend, the more bullying becomes complicated. Sometimes we do not find any effective solutions even if teachers know the situation. In this film, one hafu boy had been bullied by others and could not overcome his terrible situation. The end does not contain anything happy. The conversation between others has the word 'AIDS', which show the cruelty of young children who do not know 'AIDS' itself enough. His mother tries to make him be convinced that he should have confidence in himself, though he could not. Via this film, I learned how the current bullying is happening and how hafu children sometimes are discriminated in school. I think if the end of the film is sad, it can also impact on the audience differently from happy films. This means that any ends of the film play a role in giving people various emotion.

• quietly powerful

  CountZero3132019-03-03

  An elementary school boy leaves the big city in Japan to live in a provincial town with his mother. At school, the other children find him exotic and wonder why he can speak Japanese, even though he does not 'look Japanese.' But, of course, he is. Events then take a sinister turn when one of the boys realizes his new classmate is black, and his textbook about AIDS only shows black people, and so assumes his new classmate has AIDS. This is a clever set-up for the narrative and the second-act complication is both amusing and disturbing, as one eminently sensible classmate tries to convince the new boy that he most assuredly does not have AIDS. The new boy looks for answers and reassurance from his mother. His efforts, and predicament, are conveyed naturalistically and are persuasively authentic. The open-ended resolution is low key and perhaps this is most appropriate, as the film leaves you with questions rather than attempting to force pat answers and provide pithy resolution. The film explores universal questions of belonging, and frames them in a timely and pertinent context with regard to modern-day Japan. This is mature, subtle filmmaking, both enjoyable and thought-provoking.