I've thought about this film a lot in the past year since I first saw it. Softly steps on very big subjects. Dealing with the universe, aliens, mysterious illnesses and ecological concerns, it could so easily be schlocky and ineffectual. Ishii captured the essence of a Pure Moods tape and transforms it into an engaging tranquil science fiction narrative. It tells a story mostly in the form of sounds, textures and a dream-like atmosphere. Giving details only when completely necessary; truly an immersive film experience. He creates a magical environment using only visuals present in reality. No crazy effects, just the transcendental cosmic beautify of what exists in nature.

Full Review and a link to download the score on Atomic Caravan...

atomiccaravan.blogspot.com/2016/02/august-in-water-1995.html

First movie of the year! I'm familiar with Sogo Ishii's cyberpunk efforts, but was totally blown away by this polar opposite New Age teen romance. Transcendence, dolphin speak, eerie alien soundtrack. Literally, Seapunk: the Movie. I think I've set the bar for the rest of the year.

This basically hits 95% of my narrative concerns, is pretty aesthetically gorgeous, and has a fucking amazing score. Hypnotic and languid, ennui squeezes out of every frame, this is so unbelievably fantastic.

jeezbus it's so disarmingly gorgeous and soothing.. i had two little mouths instead of eyes and someone was pouring divine nectar into them for 2 hours

had to put out a cigarette.. felt dirty or smtng, compared to the pure characters and ideas from this

longing for more flowing water in films..
and in me,
literally and metaphorically

Despite its obsession with pre-millennial new-age concerns, this generically diverse oddity somehow manages to be both transcendental and scientific. It's ostensibly about a teenage girl who gains supernatural powers after an accident and comes to understand her place in the larger scheme of things. Largely driven by mood, texture and dreams, it's a challenging yet highly rewarding piece of work.

Gakuryu Ishii does Kubrick.

É incrível como tudo se funde nessa sensibilidade narrativa através da imagem, que poderia ser um objeto de meme vaporwave mas acaba sendo grandioso demais para isso. A água como elemento mitológico me remete diretamente ao subestimado "Lady in the Water" do Shyamalan, mas, apesar de tudo, os dois convergem ainda mais na redenção total aos encantos da própria fantasia. Precisamos de mais filmes assim.

Would have been the visual drawing board and foundation for the seapunk movement if they even knew it existed. Alas, all the seapunks have now gone extinct -- turned into stones.

Ishii has, in my opinion, made some of the most essential cinema texts of the 20th century's latter half, so this is a minor work. But it is still enchanting and funny and strange -- a teenage fable that seems like it was drinking the same water Hideaki Anno might have been around the time.

Seemed like a good idea and it started off okay, but then it went pedestrianly silly as everything played out. It has moments but the script lands somewhere between precious and 5th grade. And you can see it on the actors' faces

It was like a dream I had once: foreign and familiar, not logical but mostly composed of the impression of things--things as we wished them to be, things entirely impossible (but how we wished they were possible, these beautiful vexing things). It was an awful lot like being a teenager, before we realized how much everyone hated each other, a time when we--and by "we" I mean mostly me, though if we share that notion it's a happy accident--were content to go about our lives, whiling away the hours talking with strange friends, going to familiar places, dreaming aquatic dreams.

If you want a more accurate assessment of the movie, get back to me later. I'm full of feels right now.

After this I just want to become one with water and have dolphins swim inside of me.