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

parece ocupar um lugar na interseção entre a simplicidade narrativa de miyazaki e a formalidade estética de kiyoshi kurosawa. Um filme que surge duma proposta de urgência ecológica e termina na mais singela poesia sobre aquele amor que ainda se permite encontrar nos sonhos, porque está ali, permanente na memória, apesar dos efeitos do tempo.

I was intrigued by the synopsis, but when I got into the movie proper, I found myself being challenged to stay with it. Opting for a more hazy, ethereal presentation, the film seems to float through it's insipid narrative, making tangential contact with interesting thoughts and concepts such as monadic existance but never properly exploring any of these. This film has nothing of depth to say about anything, which is a shame because it also fails in the acting, cinematography, and just about every other respect. The only thing that can keep you watching is the hope that it will have some profound statement or food for thought in the end, but spoilers: it doesn't.

A primeira coisa para se aceitar aqui é que a história não faz absolutamente nenhum sentido;Tem a seca,tem a "doença da petrificação",tem uma tribo da pedra,tudo claramente influenciado por um buraco negro no espaço,além do acidente que deixa a menina principal em condições "estranhas".O filme joga todos esses elementos e parece não fazer questão alguma de conectar um ao outro.

Isso quer dizer que é ruim??Não;Só quer dizer que é aquele filme que é uma viagem,resta saber quem quer embarcar;Pessoalmente,aprecio filmes feitos de atmosfera,contemplativos,com personagens instigantes e esteticamente bem feitos,ainda que sua trama seja tão dispersa e desconexa.Aliás,a cinematografia é linda,Ishii tem excelente olho pra enquadramentos.No mais,"água"é sempre um dos meus temas/elementos/cenários favoritos,e há algo a dizer aqui sobre meio ambiente.

Algo para ser sentido,e não pensado,creio.

*Ótimo

my first Gakuryu Ishii and i'm totally amazed & speechless. A meditative and not the easiest, easy-to-grasp portrait, which very soon comes out of the coming-of-age drama to the thoughtful sci-fi polemic

私は私ってことは、こりゃ私で、これも私だからって考えて突き詰めていくと、だんだん自分が細かくなって、空気よりも細かくなって、隣の席の子も、前の席の子も、机も、椅子も床も窓も、何もかも全部が粒よりも小さくなって、境がなくなっちゃうの。全部が私で。

Well! I wasn't ready for that. I feel like Chiaki J. Konaka and Ryūtarō Nakamura might have taken a lot of inspiration from this for Serial Experiments Lain for there is a lot of stylistic and narrative similarities. This is VERY surreal and VERY interesting and I VERY much loved this movie.

Well this was quite a bitch to find I'll tell you what.. I'm not sure if Letterboxd has a policy about torrenting so I'll leave the link to where I finally fucking found it in the comments of this review. But it does fuck up a bit, so if anyone has a better quality download I would LOVE it..

Anyways... great movie, worth the 3 hour search/download time. Falls a bit in the 2nd half, but I can see myself liking this a lot more upon future re-watches. & plus points for cute girls of course ..

Emotionally equivalent to being submerged and having all your thoughts washed. Sets off a meditative style, tightening and becoming slowly tense until the climax, then finding yourself lost afterwards.