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Akihiko Shiota's 2001 film Harmful Insect is a bold achievement of filmmaking carried by a phenomenal lead performance from Aoi Miyazaki. The film is a painfully emotional experience which offers great insight into teenage thoughts and feelings. This is the kind of the film best left un-described because the emotions it's generates when watching far surpasses anything words can justify. The film is certainly a bleak one made and performed with subtlety in that nothing is overly explained or forced - this tone and expression is evident as early as the opening sequences, particularly a startling moment of hidden emotional layered shared between mother and daughter (Sachiko, played by Miyazaki). There is simply a great honest and understanding of psychology and feelings to this film. Sachiko is depressed and isolated from the world (be it her friends or her own mother). Through Miyazaki's minimal performances the film flawless expresses itself in tone and thought. Harmful Insect is a heartbreaking journey from beginning to end heightened by an unforgettable and remarkably powerful lead performance.
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