Hinano (14) is a shy, secluded girl whose parents divorced. She is bad at expressing emotions and thus writes down what she feels in a notebook. She is bullied by some girls who read her notebook in front of the class, so Hinano hides in the school infirmary where she forms a friendship with the school nurse who talks to her. Hinano is fascinated by the rock band Swanky Dogs and thus persuades her sister Miho to drive her to their concert. After the concert, Hinano hands all her notebooks with her feelings to Swanky Dogs and asks them to write a song using them as lyrics. Taking the finished CD, Hinano plays the song in the school infirmary, and runs away with the nurse, who was shunned by students after having an affair with a married school counsellor.
"Wander Life" is a quiet, unassuming little film about school bullying and shy teenagers coping with high school problems, done honestly and well, yet it is somehow too simplistic and banal at times: it needed more intricate plotting, ingenuity or surprises to lift off into a better position, since a lot of this was already seen. It is never quite clear what exactly seems to be Hinano’s underlying problem, except for her bullies, yet she is a really sympathetic character. After being humiliated, she escapes from class, puts her notebook on the floor of the hallway and writes down what she feels—as she writes down “I wanna die”, her pencil breaks. Her friendship with the nurse is neat and has an interesting twist: at first, the nurse comforts Hinano, but in the end, Hinano comforts her. The girl bullies go so far they even show Hinano a photo of the nurse and the councelor together, and say: "Get it? You are just their excuse to see each other!" The finale where Hinano transforms all of her written text into a song is quietly brilliant, almost magical, which compensates for the rather vague ending and several "empty walks" in the overstretched story.
Grade:++
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