Ten-year-old Yuki lives in Paris. She has problems dealing with her parents' divorce, and finds herself torn between her French father and Japanese mother. Moving to Japan would mean being far away from her best friend Nina... Co-directors Suwa Nobuhiro and Hippolyte Girardot, originally an actor, consider their movie as a "rewarding result of all kinds of ordeals in the form of naturally emerging discrepancies in filming and directing methods," in which their "collaboration progressed with Yuki's development." Noe Sampy, who makes her first ever appearance as an actress, exudes a peculiar sense of presence, along with a disarming mixture of toughness and prettiness that makes the viewer involuntarily follow her into the forest. This is definitely the outcome of a special chemical reaction that occurred when Suwa's characteristic improvised elements met Girardot's own individual style.

By Fukushima Masayo January 22, 2010