NANA

NANA is a movie about two young women in their early twenties who have a chance encounter on a train, and how that leads to a lasting friendship. Apparently this is based on a manga series that I have never seen, but is very popular and this movie is considered to be a faithful adaptation to the series. It is a well done film that is fairly straightforward, which is refreshing when compared to the outre nutty style cult flicks or the tear jerkers that junk up the rental queues. Nana One is an overly cute young lady who has left everything behind to go to Tokyo to be with her boyfriend who is in college. Nana Two is a rock star singer for a successful small town band, whose boyfriend Ren left her to go to Tokyo to join a mega successful rock group. Ren is the standard dark, sullen James Dean type who as a young kid in an orphanage made nightly escapes to be in an abandoned warehouse, which later became his home. Though in the movie you see that it has been magically transformed into an expensive East Village or SoHo style loft space. Nana Two has her pride, and she wants very much to be a successful singer, and Ren has his visions of glory in being in THE big rock band of the moment. Nana One and Two meet on the train, split, and Nana One discovers that her man doesn't expect her to live with him (red flag warning if I ever saw one!). She finds an apartment that by sheer coincidence Nana Two is also looking at. So they move in together and split the rent. It then becomes mostly about Nana One's falling out of her relationship, and finding out about Nana Two's past, how they bond and Nana Two's resolving her feelings for Ren. Still, at almost two hours, it could have been trimmed, but that's my nitpicking. The acting is very good, and the woman who plays Nana Two is very striking not only in her appearance -- she has that emaciated punk rock 90's look, and stealing a bit from Hopey from the Love and Rockets comic -- but her acting as well. Recommended.