新木乃伊

　　A film adaptation of a play made by a high school drama club, directed by Yamashita Nobuhiro of Linda Linda Linda (2006). It’s essentially a coming-of-age film about teenagers made by teenagers. During summer vacation, at a high school, the PE teacher makes female students who skipped his class clean the outdoor swimming pool. The drained pool is full of sand blown in from a nearby baseball field, and the task of scooping up the sand and putting it in buckets seems meaningless. Chizuru, who used to be unbeatable in the swim club in middle school even against boys, practices imaginary swimming in the sand-filled pool, while Kokoro, who is serious about cultivating her feminine charm by diligently applying makeup, doesn’t care about cleaning. With their own stories, Miku, who diligently practices dance moves typically performed by men, and Yui, who was the swim club captain last year, and the other girls meet and converse on the pool floor under the summer sun, where unexpected conflicts arise and resolve in unexpected ways. Through a few hours in a day at a high school, the film interestingly shows the sensibilities and desires, dreams and hopes, anger and frustration of that time.

　　In a world where the government records and taxes dreams, an unassuming dream auditor gets swept up in a cosmic journey through the life and dreams of an aging eccentric named Bella. Together, they must find a way back home.