Hana+&+Alice

//**Hana & Alice**// **- Shunji Iwai (2004)**

In the film //Hana & Alice// there are two main characters, Hana and Alice. Hana is an introvert girl who wants to keep the secret from her "boyfriend" Masashi that he lost his memory and she is his girlfriend. Alice, Hana's best friend, is an extrovert girl who at first wants to assist Hana to deceive Masashi, and pretends as his evil ex-girlfriend. However later on she also falls in love with Masashi and wants to break up Hana and Masashi.
 * Plot:**

The theme for this film is Love, as this is what all the characters need. There are different kinds of love presented in this film, including the love between friends and between couples. Hana and Alice both need love from each other to remain best friends and they also need love from Masashi, since they are both in love with him.
 * Theme:**

The first scene of the film shows Hana and Alice walking home together from school. This scene tells the audience that they have been childhood friends and reflect the theme, love, by presenting the love of their friendship. The inciting incident of the film is when Masashi bumps his head into his garage door because that causes him to loose him memory. Hence, Hana, who was stalking him, had a chance to "save him" and start lying to him about being his girlfriend. This incident gets the entire story started and the lies start rolling bigger and bigger. The major plot points of the first act are when Alice sees a hot guy in the subway, and ask Hana to stalk him for her. Hana then notices Masashi because he was standing next to the "hot guy" and instead stalks him. The balance is upset when Masashi looses his memories and Hana lies to him at the end of act one. The set up for act two is that Masashi has lost his memories and starts to believe in Hana for being his girlfriend. This set up lead to the problems happening in act two. There is no true antagonist that is a threshold guardian in this film because both girls can be seen as the main characters. However if speaking from Hana's perspective, Alice may be the threshold guardian that appears in the first part of act two. Because Masashi is starting to suspect Hana lying to him by finding stalking photos of him in Hana's computer, Hana had to lie once again saying that she has the photos of him because Alice, his "ex-girlfriend", took them and threatened her to break up with him. Alice then works along with Hana's lies and pretends to be the evil "ex-girlfriend". Thus in terms of Hana and Masashi's relationship, Alice may be counted as a threshold guardian. However there is no real threshold guardian in this film. The conflict between Hana and Alice is slowly starting to build up in act two because after the "date" at the hospital between Alice and Masashi, both of them start developing feelings for each other. Therefore there is stress set upon the friendship between Hana and Alice. The reversal of fortune that occurs halfway through the film is that Hana and Masashi continue to go on dates and the three of them decide to go to the beach together. The major conflict that happens in the second half of act two is the physical fight between Hana and Alice after Alice jokingly tells Hana to stay away from Masashi. Before this conflict, although the audience could sense the tension getting tighter between the two girls, there was no break through point. This, again, sets Alice as the threshold guardian in terms of Hana's perspective. The school fair starts act three in the film and propels Hana to face the greatest challenge which was breaking up with Masashi and confessing him about her lies. The rising action to the climax of act three is when Hana sees the poker card that Alice left Masashia and gets furious. She then breaks up with Masashi during the school fair. During the climax of the film, Hana confesses to Masashi that she had been lying to him the entire time and that she believes he will be a good match with Alice. A this point, makes a choices of letting go of the secret she has been keeping from Masashi and chooses to love him in another way, and, at the same time chooses friendship love over couple love. She lets go of what she wants and still achieves what she needs, which is love. The falling action of act three is Alice auditioning for another modelling job, and gets the job after she performs ballet in front of the judges. The world finds a new balance when the two girls becomes friends again, just like the beginning of the film. The denouement of this film is the two girls bumping into each other on the streets and they become best friends again.
 * 3 Act Structure:**
 * 1. Identify the first image (or scene) in the film and describe how it provides insight into the theme of the film. **
 * 2. What is the inciting incident? **
 * 3. What are the major plot points of the first act? At what point is the balance upset? **
 * 4. What is the Set up For Act 2? **
 * 5. What threshold guardians appear in the first part of act 2? **
 * 6. What other conflicts raise the stakes? **
 * 7. What is the reversal of fortune that occurs about halfway through the film? **
 * 8. What conflicts / threshold guardians define the second half of act 2? **
 * 9. What event starts act three and propels the protagonist to face their greatest challenge? **
 * 10. What is the rising action of act 3? **
 * 11. How does the climax of the film define the choice that the character must make between what they want and what they need ? **
 * 12. What is the falling action of act 3, and how has the world changed and found a new balance? **
 * 13. What is the denouement? **