Let Me Hear It Barefoot – Movie Review & Ending Explained

Naomi is an ordinary employee who works for his father's recycling company. He drives around in a pickup truck, collecting recyclable materials across various homes. It's a tedious job that doesn't excite Naomi. He also lives with his single father. Naomi pretends to be the dutiful son who obeys his family's command. However, he is secretly unfulfilled and wants to move away from home.

Naomi goes swimming at the public pool. Maki, one of the staff, initiates a conversation with him. He suggests Naomi try doing the backstroke. Later, Naomi is driving home in the middle of the night. He sees Maki and his grandmother waiting by the bus stop. Naomi kindly offers them a ride home. Maki's grandma, Midori, is blind. Despite her vision impairment, she is adventurous and likes wandering around town alone. Maki must often track her down to ensure she returns home safely.

One night, Naomi offers Maki a ride home from the pool. They are shocked to find Midori lying unconscious outside. Her health has worsened. Midori must remain hospitalized for the long term. She reveals to her grandson that her stories are a lie. Midori used to claim that she travelled extensively in her youth. However, the truth is that she never even left the country. She only relayed second-hand tales about other people's expeditions.

Due to her old age and health issues, Midori cannot fulfill her dreams of travelling the world. She offers Maki her savings and encourages him to achieve her aspirations. Despite Midori's good intentions, she doesn't have much money left to offer. Maki does not have the financial capability to visit different countries. However, he doesn't have the heart to break the news to his grandmother.

Maki comes up with a plan. He uses his vivid imagination and pretends to visit various destinations. For example, he steps on the sand in a stadium and pretends to walk across a desert. Maki uses audio recordings to create the illusion of his travel expeditions. He sends these clips to Midori, who genuinely believes Maki is travelling the world. To help him pull off these schemes, Naomi joins his friend on his imaginary adventures. Together, they turn everyday settings into extraordinary landscapes. Along the way, their ambiguous relationship fills with sexual tension.

Let Me Hear It Barefoot begins as a gentle film, introducing the ordinary protagonists and their mundane lives. After the leads become friends, they embark on imaginary adventures. Using their ingenuity, they transform everyday surroundings into fantasy landscapes. A sand pit becomes the Sahara Desert, while a swimming pool morphs into the Blue Grotto. These encounters transport the audience into a world of wonder. You'll marvel at the movie's creativity after each enchanting scene.

The most riveting journey in Let Me Hear It Barefoot is the exploration of inner desires. As the leads grow closer, their ambiguous relationship is coded with sexual tension. The romantic exchanges are highly unusual, differing from most BL stories. The couple doesn't express love through flirtation or kisses. Instead, they release their pent-up feelings in playfights. From headlocks to body slams, these physical encounters seem rough, intimate, and ferocious. Some viewers may interpret the interactions as arousing, while others will find them disturbing.

Let Me Hear It Barefoot doesn't define Naomi & Maki's relationship explicitly. It uses thoughtful metaphors or symbolic imagery to allude to romance. Your viewing experience involves picking up subtexts, deciphering clues, and paying close attention to the story's themes. The intelligent film challenges you to think critically, assessing the plot on a deeper level. Sometimes, the conceptual ideas are obtuse. I don't always understand the hidden messages as the characters speak cryptically. This movie is a complicated labyrinth instead of being direct and straightforward.

Let Me Hear It Barefoot has a vivid atmosphere. The film immerses you in a sensory journey, from cozy visuals to soothing music. Each understated scene captures the raw, authentic ambiance of the setting. In addition, the leads appear relaxed and easygoing, demonstrating a comfortable rapport. Once the plot intensifies, they showcase their dramatic flair splendidly. While the acting veers slightly overboard in several moments, I'm impressed with the depth and intensity of the cast's performances. I also love how Naomi (Shion Sasaki) portrays emotions in his eyes.

The movie shines during the first hour, especially when depicting the charming camaraderie between the leads. However, the narrative falters in the last stretch. I struggle to immerse in the excessive angst and escalating melodrama, which spirals rapidly out of control. The film also sacrifices nuance by glossing over important events and not elaborating on character motivations. Furthermore, the couple fights too much. These similar scenes lose their novelty after a while. They become repetitive, have diminished impact, and don't convey anything new.

Let Me Hear It Barefoot lacks traditionally romantic moments. Don't watch the movie expecting the couple to flirt sweetly or kiss passionately. The characters only yearn for each other through unspoken feelings and unfulfilled sexual tension. The closest they come to physical intimacy is during their increasingly violent playfighting. As a BL watcher, I feel dissatisfied with these relationship scenes. Ultimately, the film focuses on agony over affection. Let Me Hear It Barefoot doesn't appeal to me as a love story, but I still enjoy it as a fascinating piece of cinema.