Look Back — Montclair Film Festival Review

Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s anime adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga Look Back was one of my top five favorite films of 2024. Hirokazu Kore-eda is one of my favorite filmmakers working today, and Monster was one of my top five favorite films of 2023. His coming-of-age stories are so sincere and sensitive, and some of the best performances I’ve seen from child actors are in his films. So, a live-action adaptation of Look Back directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda feels like a cheat code for crafting a film I’d love. In fact, if I had to choose a filmmaker to direct a live-action adaptation of Look Back, Kore-eda would have been my first pick.