The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (4 Stars)

This film is the fourth adaptation of the 1967 novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui with the same name. The films were made in 1983, 1997, 2006 and 2010. There was also a TV series in 1972. With all this interest in the story, I'm surprised it's never been filmed in other countries.

The film begins in 2010. Kazuko Yoshiyama is a university professor who has developed a means of time travel. She has a car accident, and she thinks she might not recover. She asks her daughter Akari to travel back to her school science lab in 1972 and give a message to Kazuo, her first lover. She says that Kazuo was waiting for her. Unfortunately, Akari travels to 1974 and can't find Kazuo. There's no record of him ever being in the school. Akari meets her mother and shows her a photo of Kazuo, but she doesn't recognise him. Akari says she'll remain in the past until she solves the mystery.

This is a slow-moving story. It's a love story. Akari meets a boy in her mother's school and falls in love with him. There are a lot of interwoven plots and subplots. It's a film that's worth watching a second time.