Firefly Dreams tells the story of Naomi, a young Japanese teenager from Nagoya who has just reached the prime of her teenage rebellion years. She dies her hair a sharp blonde color, skips school with her friends, stays out past her curfew, mouths off nastily to her mother, and when she isn't obsessing over boys and partying, she's knee deep wallowing in her own disaffection. In other words, she's pretty much almost every seventeen-year-old girl in existence. Naomi's selfishness and self-interest are put into play when her parents announce that they are breaking up, and that they are shipping her off to the countryside to live and work with her aunt's family.

Life in the country doesn't sit well with Naomi. She's obviously bitter, resentful, and forlorn. She reluctantly helps out around the inn, acts passive-aggressively to her aunt and is outwardly hostile and mean to her slow but sweet-natured cousin Yumi. She smokes, talks back, and always attempts to isolate herself. While on a pickle errand one day, she comes across Mrs. Koide, a sweet elderly woman and relative who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Naomi is asked to help care for Mrs. Koide, a charge she approaches with her usual degree of alienation and indifference. But as the summer progresses, she begins to develop a deep friendship and bond with Mrs. Koide, while at the same time warming up to the rest of her extended family. Time and a sudden tragedy begin to reshape Naomi, from a spoiled, selfish girl into a more sensitive, mature adult.

Firefly Dreams is a slow, simple tale, presented in a wonderfully warm and beautiful style. John Williams script and direction is focused and unadorned, allowing the natural grace and simplicity of the tale to unfold. The cinematography by Yoshinobu Hayano is absolutely exquisite, providing photography that captures not only the natural beauty of the Japanese countryside but also bathing the quieter, more introspective moments with both glowing light and deep shadow. I also appreciated Paul Rowe's piano/guitar-centric score, as it so perfectly complemented the tale's slow voyage of discovery. And there isn't a bad performance in the bunch. Maho is utterly believable as Naomi, both in her spoiled, bratty phase and throughout her transformation, and as Mrs. Koide, Yoshie Minami (who may be remembered by Kurosawa fans as the maid from Ikiru) is equal parts endearing and heartbreaking.

While not a powerful, revolutionary piece of cinema, Firefly Dreams is a sweet, charming little film that manages to touch the heart without engaging in cheap melodrama, maudlin theatrics, or shameless tugging at the heartstrings.

The DVD