Let Me Hear It Barefoot (2021)

"I feel like there is an invisible barrier around me."

Gentle and sensitive LGBTQ+ drama that explores themes such as emotional repression conducted by society, family conflicts and the struggle of finding your own path in life.

Probably the strongest point of this film are the two main characters and the performances of the cast. Naomi and Maki are played in such a nuanced and likable way, you quickly feel invested in their story. I was happy when these two were happy, and I was devastated when these two were. It's an emotionally charged story that lives through its silent moments between Naomi and Maki and the immaculate performances of these two actors. I genuinely enjoyed the movies subtle approach to storytelling, since it avoids spelling things out and instead trusts the viewers enough to let them figure out the context themselves. You may not have the complete backstory of each character, but you know exactly what is going on and the emotions are loud and clear.

Given the audiovisual context of the story, it's probably no surprise the score and sound design was exceptionally well-done. Some of the most entertaining parts of the story were Naomi's and Maki's unconventional approach to sound-engineering. Watching them figure out how to recreate specific sounds was delightful. Apart from the sound, I have to mention the beautiful cinematography that seemed to almost intuitively capture the protagonist's feelings and thoughts.

Considering I've only praised this movie so far, one might think it's perfect, so I have to mention two aspects that might raise criticism. The first one is the somewhat repetitive nature of the storytelling. This wasn't something that bothered me in particular. At some point, the movie gets into this rhythm, repeating certain activities over and over. I can see why this might bother some viewers, however I thought this intensified the underlying feelings of the leads, and it felt different enough to see the progress of the story.

The second aspect is something that bothered me personally, so not everyone might have this issue with the story. Without giving anything away, I disagreed with a few narrative choices that were made in the later half of the movie, since they weren't in line with the behavior of the characters in the first half, at least it felt like that to a certain extent. This evoked strong emotions in me, which honestly just showed how invested I was in the story and how connected I felt to these characters. So, while I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this, even having thought about it for a day, I realized that while I might be conflicted about certain parts of the story, this movie managed to touch me deeply, and it has stayed with me.

Let Me Hear It Barefoot is a poignant movie with wonderful quiet moments, genuinely likable characters, and a story that lingers with you after you have finished watching it.

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starts amazing, the last third is debatable

The beginning was everything I could ever want. The characters were amazing as well as the story. It started a little slow which worked out perfectly as the relationship between the main characters evolved. At that point I was sure that I would give this film 10/10 stars would I ever write a review.
Sadly the story made a big turn after around 2/3 of the film. To avoid spoilers I will not go into it, but personally, I don't think this turn off events did anything good for the film.
I still think it is an amazing film, but the last 1/3 confused me a lot and seemed unnatural and unfitting.
still worth watching.

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A danger to count on to fall for a character who doesn't know what they want.

In the beginning, I was hopeful, but then I started to lose hope every minute; I desperately begged one of the boys to say, "I love you!" No need to kiss or something, just I wanted to hear someone say it. The turning point, the final act of this drama, was devastating; it was cruel. As for the ending, I felt betrayed. But I realized I didn't know Naomi well. Or maybe I pretended not to know Naomi. He said he didn't know what he really wanted; I just didn't listen because I was too drawn to the idea he would have had a young love with Maki. I was disappointed with Naomi.

This is purely a comment from an audience perspective and I don't include any technicality comment for this title.

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A very easy movie to watch

I don't really understand the fuss about the ending of the movie. So lets go back to the movie itself :

Yanase Maki is gay, he has a sick and blind grandmother Midori who wish for him to travel to America. To make his mother happy, he makes ASMR audios for her to relax and make her "see" his various journeys. During his struggles, he meets Ari Naomi. His father Tamotsu is a selfish man who gamble money and ask his own son for money. He will be the reason of his son's unhappiness. Naomi has a girl who is in love with him. But he struggle to have any relationship with her due to his father's dangerous behavior. While Naomi gets closer to Maki while doing ASMR together, he slowly open his heart to him. Maki fall in love with him, but Naomi is still not really completely open to him, for the same reason he can't be with the girl. But Noami decide to leave his father as he has some money on the side to be independent and be with Maki.
Maki, wanting to make his grandmother happy, pretend to have left to America, and with the help of Naomi, give her ASMR to make her believe the story. She died happy, yet Maki think he let her down.

One day, people beat them up because of his father's gambling. Then, when he tried to get his money at the bank, he realised his own father stole everything from him. After facing his father, he has Makino options or he may get killed because of his father, and need money quickly. He decide to steal for a rich woman he knows. But he get caught and go to prison.
Maki came to visit, but Naomi break up with him as he see himself as a failure and want Maki to be happy with someone who can give him the love he deserve.
The conversation is not obvious, but the intension while knowing the story behind his words can't be missed to those who can see more than just the lines said by the actor.

When Naomi left prison, he got closer to the girl he know and they get together as a couple. From my point of view, he just want a quiet, trouble free, life. He already has a record, so working can be a problem, and being with a man (in japan) can be even more difficult. So he has chosen his head instead of his hart (like many people do).
The final scene is the same as the opening, when they see each other in opposite cars. Maki seems relax, yet Naomi will always linger for the one he can never have.

The ending reminded me of More Than Words (2022), when parents have their hands on their children's happiness. Even if japan is not a dangerous country for gays, they are not yet fully accepted. Especially for parents with gay children. But here it's not homophobia, it's the dominion of parenthood over their children's life. It's all about pretending :
Maki fakes his own life to his blind grandmother for her to be happy, hiding behind a picture perfect he made up for her.
Naomi fakes his own love to become normal and escape his father. He also escape his own "prison" made by his dad by listening and playing with Maki.

I get that many people would have loved a love story with happy ending. However, many Japanese BL are close to the French dark movies. Very close to real life, were people are facing the society and the culture of their country while struggling with their own love life. The movie is good. No violent ending and no real homophobia. So it's easier to watch than some other movies. It's a movie to watch at least once.

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