Liz and the Blue Bird
Director: Naoko Yamada Run Time: 91 min. Release Year: 2018 Language: Japanese
Starring: Atsumi Tanezaki, Ayaka Asai, Chika Anzai, Nao Toyama, Tomoyo Kurosawa
Stay for a post-film discussion about queer anime with Nevaeh West and Alice Roberts about anime and the queer teenage experience.
Handpicked short to open the film!
Mizore Yoroizuka plays the oboe, and Nozomi Kasaki plays the flute in Kitauji High School concert band. As seniors, this will be their last competition together, and the selected piece “Liz and the Blue Bird” features a duet for the oboe and flute. “This piece reminds me of us.” Nozomi says cheerfully, enjoying the solo, while Mizore’s usual happiness to play with Nozomi is tinged with the dread of their inevitable parting. By all accounts the girls are best friends, but the oboe and flute duet sounds disjointed, as if underscoring a growing distance between them. Talk of college creates a small rift in their relationship, as the story evolves to reveal a shocking and emotional conclusion.