Honey and Clover

Adapted from a popular manga series—which also has been reworked into both anime and live-action TV shows—Honey and Clover is another Japanese coming-of-age drama that goes heavy on whimsy. (See also 2006’s The Taste of Tea and the festival mainstay A Gentle Breeze in the Village.) Set in and around an art school, the movie is the antithesis of Art School Confidential; the title is derived from Emily Dickinson: “To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee.” Although the film has its share of funny-true moments—as when a student imagines himself arrested for stalking his crush—the mawkishness grows tiresome over the long haul.