Honey & Clover

continued

After Morita kisses Hagu on a whim and then ignores her, she falls into a creative slump, getting so depressed that she won't eat, hardly talks, and can bring herself to paint only a giant all-black canvas. It takes a dramatic, selfless artistic statement by Morita to lift Hagu out of her slump--a statement demonstrating that (hint: this is the moral of the film) a capacity for compassion and the spirit of giving are essential to the creative process and to maintaining one's artistic integrity.

Honey & Clover is at Lorch Hall on July 31 as part of the U-M Center for Japanese Studies Summer 2009 Film Series.   

[Originally published in July, 2009.]