Your Name Engraved Herein   

刻在你心底的名字 

Release Date: June 26th, 2020

Duration: 118 mins.

Director: Liu Kuang-hui

Writer: Chu Yu-ning (Script), Keralino Sandrovich (Original Novel)

Starring: Tseng Chin-hua, Chen Hao-sen, Wang Shih-sian, Leon Dai, Fabio Grangeon, Edward Chen, Mimi Shao,

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The first LGBTQ+ film since the legalisation of gay marriage in Taiwan, Your Name Engraved Herein makes itself emblematic of the gay experience by tacking its story of characters accepting their homosexuality and coming out to the easing of cultural conservatism in the 1980s and the embrace of a new openness in Taiwanese society experienced now.

The film starts in media res at the greatest point of crisis for two lovers as one, bloodied and bruised, recounts how the drama started which launches the film into its many extended flashbacks.

Two teens in a Christian school catch each other’s attention as they go through exercises in a pool, at band practice and in the dorms. One, Chang Jia-han, known as A-Han (Chen Hao-Sen), is majoring in science and is the more conservative of the two. Pure-hearted, he prays to God for guidance and while he hangs out with lads gadding about after ladies, he doesn’t have their instinctive lust for girls. The other boy, Birdy (Tseng Ching-Hua), is a bit of a wild card. Having named himself after the American Vietnam War movie, he is a James Dean-like rebel with a cause which is defying unjust authority and there is a lot of that as the two are studying in a restrictive boarding school run with military precision by adults who crack down on any dissent or difference. The only support they get comes from a blonde and bearded Canadian priest named Oliver (Fabio Grangeon). As the two hang out, Birdy’s brash confidence and sense of justice draws out A-Han’s love as the innocent character begins to understand he likes boys rather than girls.

They meet at an auspicious time for something like that because it is 1987 and the end of the Martial Law Era has initiated the slow advance of liberalisation in the country as evidenced by the boy’s school suddenly becoming co-ed but this change is slow and conservative attitudes still reign, overlapping with the religious and cultural attitudes in the school so while the boys are aware of their burgeoning attraction to each other they know they cannot act on it openly. This forms a tension of the film as there are numerous instances of homosexuality being punished by teachers and students with extreme prejudice.

Due to the illicit nature of their love and the teenage passions that abound, their every moment together becomes torrid and painful, full of barely restrained erotic feelings, wet dreams and sensuous touching that define their hidden desires, the limits they can go to and the strength of their emotions. As they labour through the academic year, the restrictive nature of society poisons these pure emotions to make the characters billious with self-hatred and violence until misunderstandings seemingly sever ties.

The film turns out to be rather schematic in how it tells its story but very atmospheric as it gives a realistic and rich depiction of a stifling society that crushes homosexuality and wages war on individualism.

There are various figures and cultural signifiers of the age such as a Street Fighter arcade cabinet and songs by Tsai Lan-chin (this world) but what tracks constantly in the narrative is the sense of an expanding consciousness of Taiwanese people and the fight for gay rights fits into this from references to the writing of Sanmao to a glimpse of the real-life LGBTQ activist Chi Chia-wei who gets arrested by the police in one scene. There’s references are a little obscure for foreign audiences but are easy to understand as it is all channelled into the boy’s battle to establish their personalities and their love at a time when what they are is unacceptable.  

The atmosphere is helped by the fact that the action mostly takes place in the hothouse of a school to ratchet up intensity. The moments of freedom experienced by the two as they head to theatres and get to know each other are potent and romantic as we see A-han slowly fall for Birdy, the more confident, the more defiant and yet the more dishonest of the two as he deals with A-han’s attraction by dating Ban Wu (Mimi Shao) a female student which causes disruption to the narrative, initiating a painful and humiliating journey for A-han that makes up the rest of the film as he comes to terms with coming out. This process is made more arduous due to Birdy’s seeming indifference. His inexplicable behaviour has a reason which the audience is clued into with lingering shots on his face to show the mask slipping as he works to protect A-han from making a mistake and revealing his true sexual orientation.

Importantly, the film establishes their sexuality is normal and always gets the audience to question just what is love by having different definitions of it from A-han’s pure emotion to showing how hetero social norms and relationships can be toxic – parents who married out of convenience, desperation, social order, just to have kids. In contrast to those examples, the emotions of the boys come out as the purest.

Beautifully shot and with confident and highly physical acting from the leads, the film goes a long way to portray an intense romance that should be easy to understand and appeal to a wide audience especially as the narrative wisely uses historical and cultural context to humanise the main characters.

KAMATA PRELUDE

蒲田前奏曲 「Kamata Sensoukyoku」

Release Date: Autumn 2020

Duration: 115 mins.

Directors: Ryutaro Nakagawa, Mayu Akiyama, Yuka Yasukawa, Hirobumi Watanabe

Writers: Ryutaro Nakagawa, Mayu Akiyama, Yuka Yasukawa, Hirobumi Watanabe (Script)

Starring: Urara Matsubayashi, Kotone Furukawa, Kumi Takiuchi, Ren Sudo, Sairi Ito, Mayuko Fukada, Noa Kawazoe, Ryutaro Ninomiya, Ryutaro Kondo,

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Receiving its world premiere as the closing film of the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020, this omnibus movie is split between four different directors with four distinct styles separated simply by an edit and a change in visual approach. Each director is part of a new generation of talent from the Japanese movie industry and this mix of approaches ensures a change of pace occurs often enough to keep interest in the film high.

Keeping all of these disparate elements together is the depiction of the life of a struggling actress named Machiko who lives in Kamata. Portrayed by Urara Matsubayashi (lead actress in The Hungry Lion), she is the film’s producer as well as the centre of these stories which depicts her learning what it means to be a “woman” and an “actress” in contemporary Japanese society through showing the behaviour and perceptions of those who surround her. Comic, dramatic, all sorts of emotional hues are touched upon.

The first segment is by Ryutaro Nakagawa who has attracted attention ever since Plastic Love Story (2014) all the way through to his latest work Silent Rain which was screened at both the 2019 Busan International Film Festival and Tokyo Filmex where it won the Audience Award. He brings his signature ethereal style for a story that starts off as a naturalistic depiction of the disruption of a close sister-brother relationship portrayed by Urara Matsubayashi and Ren Sudo as Machiko and Taizou respectively. When Taizou introduces his girlfriend Etsuko (Kotone Furukawa) to Machiko, a falling out seems to be on the cards as Machiko is floored by this news. That’s not what happens.

Initially jealous of the woman, Machiko gradually opens up to the possibility of a relationship as she gets to know Etsuko. Kotone Furukawa essays Etsuko as someone who is innocent and charming, like an angel untouched by mortal desires but desperate to experience them. Through this attraction to simple delights, the film takes on a melancholy magical-realist hue as the girl becomes a supernatural presence, seemingly becoming a being from another time as revealed through Furukawa’s recitation of poetic dialogue, revisiting a “sister”, her costume changes, and a day out with Machiko punctuated by a litany of regrets and sequences full of beautiful visuals to end on a mysterious note.

The second story is from director Mayu Akiyama, whose debut work, Rent a Friend, won the MOOSIC LAB Grand Prix and was screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2018. Her film is thoroughly modern as it features a collection of popular actors usually cast in supporting roles who portray career-minded women who seemingly have it all. As Machiko and her friends talk about their lives it becomes clear they hide their everyday struggles and anxieties behind bravado and, when they head to an onsen in Kamata, they shed their clothes and also the lies they tell to make themselves look better than they actually are.

Although the story is tied up nicely at the end, there is a deeply uncomfortable atmosphere linked to notions around loneliness and an interrogation as to whether a woman can really have a career and family in a patriarchal society and what sacrifices are made. A collection of great performances bring the characters to life, the standout being Sairi Ito (Love and Other Cults) as a straight-talking friend named Hana who is able to bring about clear thinking with her direct, cynical and honest attitude.

Story three by Yuka Yasukawa offers commentary on gender relations via #MeToo and is probably the most bracing part of the movie, a pointed entry into a subject of great interest to many people and told with sophistication as it offers a variety of female and male characters to give different interpretations of the issues as brought out in acting that ratchets up in intensity for a dramatically tense situation.

This section is built around an audition process involving a panel of guys getting women to talk about actual experiences of sexual harassment. The guys display varying shades of altruism and the very misogyny they wish to pick apart in their film. Of the ladies, only two actors are able to stand out, a woman named Kurokawa, and Machiko, both of whom are asked to act out a traumatic experience. Reality and fiction crash together for everyone in the room and this is brought with force to the screen by Kumi Takiuchi as Kurokawa who just absolutely nails the anger and frustration that is felt by a woman who has been treated so poorly she can no longer constrain those emotions under the cruel treatment of the casting team. Her body language and dialogue delivery are intense and searing and the ending is a downbeat one.

How does one continue this film from that moment of almost hopeless anger? Pick the most idiosyncratic director going. 

From debuting with his indie movie, And the Mud Ship Sails Away (2013) to his last movie, Cry, which won Best Director at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2019 in the Japanese Cinema Splash section, Hirobumi Watanabe has created a cinematic world centred around the rural parts of his native Tochigi Prefecture. His films are shot in black-and-white and feature friends and family and here he manages to work Machiko’s life into this world.

While Machiko doesn’t physically feature in this one, the action takes place in her hometown of Ohara where Riku-chan, Machiko’s cousin, takes part in a sci-fi movie shoot that is made tough due to a demanding director, played Hirobumi Watanabe himself. Here, Watanabe comments obliquely on the art of acting and uses Riku to show the pure innocent adulation for movie-making.

This parody of a film set is done in the inimitable style of Hirobumi Watanabe who uses dry humour to lighten the mood and this relieves the tension felt from Yuka Yasukawa’s movie, allowing audiences to end the movie by revelling in dreams rather than the hardships. It provides a welcome ending to the film, especially as he has a cast of cute kids to win over audiences and remind them of the fun that can be had in collaboration, imagination and shooting movies.

When the final credits role, there’s a definite sense that the whole product works and provides a good overview of Machiko’s life, her career and personal travails, hopes and dreams, and those faced by a variety of women of her generation. The wealth of characters, tones, styles and stories allow for plenty of other opportunities of engagement in this fresh-feeling film that captures contemporary times with brightness.

Miss Andy 

迷失安狄

Release Date: 2020

Duration: 108 mins.

Director: Teddy Chin

Writer: Ryan Tu (Script),

Starring: Lee Lee-zen, Ruby Lin, Jack Tan, Keshap Suria, Tou Kyzer,

OAFF Wikipedia

The human heart can be the most powerful thing as it always burns with the embers of hope for love, companionship and empathy even in the most difficult circumstances. That is what links all humans. Miss Andy is all about that hope in the face of such awful loneliness.

A Malaysian-Taiwanese co-production, it was directed by Teddy Chin, a director, actor and screenwriter. He turns in a handsomely lensed film with some melodrama and a lot of melancholy as a transgender person simply seeking some human companionship in modern-day Malaysia seemingly finds it with other victims of persecution. Together, they hope for better days but being in ever crueller situations reveals the worst of human nature. These darkest moments serves to highlight the isolation that people can feel and the need to connect with others.

When the film opens we meet Evon (Lee Lee-zen), formerly known as Andy, going through one of the most humiliating periods of her life. Just picked up by the police after a desperate attempt at sex work goes wrong, she endures dehumanising treatment that culminates in a degrading strip search. Surviving this loss of dignity, Evon then loses her best friend in violent circumstances and this leaves her reeling as she finds herself alone in the world. Her life has been one of loss. Having transitioned late in life whilst married and with two kids, Evon ended up losing her family and steady employment and now she finds herself really struggling.

After spending the opening documenting the ostracisation and violence that transgender people endure the narrative offers Evon a meeting with people in even more desperate circumstances, a Vietnamese illegal immigrant who goes by the name of Sophia (Ruby Lin) and her cute boy named Kang (Tou Kyzer). The two are fleeing a violent relationship and haven’t got a place to stay, food to eat or any citizenship papers which means they are desperate for Evon’s help. Empathetic after losing everything, her kindness is easily won especially by little Kang’s cuteness and innocence as he accepts Evon without question and this unthinking ability to accept others gives the film its heart. 

The miserable set up is long and the rest of the film is spent showing the three tentatively forming a family of sorts. Little acts like offering a place to stay, cooking food and eating together warms the screen and provides the characters with the salve of kindness needed to endure ever-precarious situations of being undocumented immigrants and Evon’s unfulfilled emotional and sexual needs as she is rebuffed by others including her family.

We are ever aware that the characters may not get synchronised into the archetypal feel-good patchwork family due to the various social impediments they have and this leaves the narrative open to going back to the brink of misery but it never becomes maudlin and it moves at a gentle pace that allows us to get to know how the characters feel. The mere sense of belonging in a relationship where kindness is shown brings light to the dark world they inhabit and we are always aware of this due to the strong directorial style exhibited by Teddy Chin as he foregrounds the actors.

Most of the shots are mid or close-up so we view their faces and physical interactions quite intimately. A lot of attention goes into the lighting in the film where strong blocks of red and blue light up the characters in the throes of emotion and dejection respectively. The Taiwanese leads are solid in their roles. Singer/actor Lee Lee-zen does a fine job as Evon. He resists being showy and goes for stoicism while allowing the hurt to be etched into his long face, the restrained, thwarted desire radiating from his body. It is a strong central performance that others can form around. Actress Ruby Lin in the role of Sophia doesn’t quite stick as a maternal figure despite looking deglammed but she gives a sense of a survivor which makes the duplicitous actions that crown the film feel real and allow for a sad denouement. 

A lot goes on in the relationships between the characters and in themselves as they experience various forms of danger and prejudice as transgender people and immigrants. Most of it is by the numbers but it is well done, especially in the direction which centres the faces of the actors who do well to tell the story of their emotional ups and downs, how a lack of empathy leads to cruelty and, finally, heartbreak but, conversely, showing how hope and kindness nourishes human souls regardless of the physical body and legal status it inhabits.

My review for Miss Andy was first published over at VCinema on March 16th.

Way Back Home   

비밀의 정원 「Bimilui jeongwon」

Release Date: October 05th, 2019

Duration: 113 mins.

Director: Park Sun-joo

Writer: Park Sun-joo (Script), 

Starring: Han Woo-yun, Jun Suk-ho, Jung Da-eun, Oh Min-ae, Yeom Hye-ran, Yoo Jae-myung,

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Director Park Sun-joo graduated from making short films to her debut feature by adapting her 2017 short Mild Fever, winner of the Asian Short Film & Video Competition Grand Prize at the 19th Seoul International Women’s Film Festival, to make Way Back Home. Taking on the potentially incendiary topic of a woman confronting the emotional fallout from her rape, the film uses a more subdued tone to deliver a realistic depiction of survivors moving on.

The story follows Jeong-won, a swimming instructor who is happily married to her carpenter husband Sang-u. The future seems to be opening up new horizons for the two as they are about to move into a larger home and welcome a child into the world. Jeong-won’s happiness is thrown off balance when she receives a call from the police informing her that the man who sexually assaulted her ten years ago was recently caught and they need her to provide a statement. Jeong-won had kept this incident a secret from Sang-u and now it threatens the stability of her peaceful married life.

What happens from the first phone call to the end of the film is the process of Jeong-won having to accept this horrific act after keeping it at a distance for such a long time. That effort at keeping things at a distance includes how she treats friends and family, some of whom are kept at arm’s length out of a myriad of emotions such as shame and guilt. The process of talking to those around her who also feel various strains of emotions, from a loyal mother and sister with whom contact is dodged to her devoted husband who has been kept in the dark, provides ample drama as the different nuances in how a survivor moderates her feelings towards herself and those around her is explored.

One might expect histrionics and melodrama from the topic but director Park Sun-joo carefully and quietly depicts people trying to navigate such a difficult issue using static framing and long shots to allow the actors to portray a complex array of their emotions so that a glance away from a loved one, the pursing of lips in frustration, walking into the rain in confusion, have a suitable impact.

The rape isn’t shown but the emotions are felt when Jeong-won thinks back on it. The camerawork feels subjective at these times, as if matching the control and loss of it Jeong-won feels and, crucially, this happens when men try to dictate or burrow into the narrative she constructs for her world without her permission. Her secrecy and will to live is an act of defiance against the attack.

Subtle and realistic is how this film is best described and its depiction of a marriage is not marred by grandstanding arguments and wall punches for the sake of drama but the struggle of people to overcome resentments and open up emotionally to each other. There is the refreshing quiet determination to provide support and care not seen enough in cinema. When there is a big release of emotion, it feels earned and the relief at the end seems genuinely cathartic and well earned to make this a refreshing and meaningful drama.

The Murders of Oiso

ある殺人、落葉のころに 「Aru satsujin, rakuyo no koro ni」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 79 mins.

Director: Takuya Misawa

Writer: Takuya Misawa (Screenplay)

Starring: Koji Moriya, Haya Nakazaki, Yusaku Mori, Shugo Nagashima, Natsuko Hori, Ena Koshino, Chun Yip Lo, Toko Narushima,

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Debuting at last year’s Busan International Film Festival, The Murders of Oiso took the Japan Cuts Award at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020. It is the sophomore feature from director Takuya Misawa who made waves with his 2015 debut Chigasaki Story. He returns with a slice-of-life film shot with a Hong Kong crew in a cut-up narrative that has a noirish atmosphere as he looks at the shadowy side of the titular town and its citizens.

Oiso is a quiet and pristine seaside town in Kanagawa which is nestled between a beautiful coastline and scenic countryside. The location is marked by the colours of fall as the season unfolds under cold and clean sunlight with a chill in the air. This is where prime ministers of Japan retire to, a pleasant place chosen by Misawa because it could be emblematic of Japan. Beautiful on the outside, hidden inside are various instances of small-scale corruption as conducted by seemingly average people that make life harder for everyone.

Our window into this world comes through the strained friendship between Tomoki (Haya Nakazaki), Shun (Koji Moriya), Kazuya (Yusaku Mori), and Eita (Shugo Nagashima). They have hung out together since their childhood and this connection has continued into adulthood as Kazuya’s uncle, their former teacher, helped the four get jobs in the family construction firm but when he is found dead their relationship dynamics are disrupted, especially for Kazuya who has to take on the mantle of running the construction company and discovers criminals use it for their own gain.

This disruption is rich with moments of drama as secrets emerge such as Ito’s secret wife Chisato (Natsuko Hori) being revealed. These breaks from the norm of behaviour create the catalyst for the characters to either fully accept conforming to or rebelling against their positions in society as their battle with their complicated history and characters is revealed.

The central relationship between the four boys is a really odd one where they act out roles that allow them to avoid directly confronting the problems in their lives. From the start of the story it is clear that a shared suffering of being under the thumb of others and suffering abuse links them so that even in instances of cowardice, cruelty and violence, they retain sympathy. Even Kazuya who acts like a bully to those around him, we feel sorry for because he does so to keep the protective circle of his friendship around him. It creates an interesting and realistic dichotomy of contradictory behaviour that powers a constant tension in the film which spikes with acts of criminality.

The list of sins will be familiar to the audience as they are culled from newspaper headlines. Illegal fly-tipping, bullying, elder abuse, sexual harassment and worse are touched upon but never shown as Misawa favours shooting scenes without showing everything. He withholds audio, cuts away to the reaction to the crime and uses a visual or audio cue to clue the audience in to what has happened. Observant viewers will be able to tell how people regard each other from seeing actor’s blocking and movement or just recognising someone peering in on an argument when they pop up later to spread news to someone with an interest.

Artful in audio and visual terms, the film’s descents into criminality and death are presaged by interesting uses of camera angles and editing to create a noir tone or add a horror inflection to a scene to colour in this slice of life. Sometimes a flashback between characters after someone picks up a specific prop is enough to set off an idea of a whole menacing backstory so we understand why someone like Shun wants to break away from the toxic situation.

This could be heavy handed in tackling social issues but it isn’t. Nothing is ever directly shown because Takuya Misawa’s script is loaded with techniques to create a space for viewer engagement, for audiences to think about why the characters behave the way they do. There are three different narrators (including Misawa) who think back on memories or offer secondhand information, the narrative is told in a nonlinear fashion from different perspectives and timelines to create a patchwork picture full of crimes and misdemeanours and there is an ambiguity to everything we see but everything is eventually connected up in a complicated web of relationships that creates a stifling sense of conformity and control as everyone is implicated whether as bystanders, victims, accomplices or predators.

If there is any criticism it is that the indirectness sometimes leads to no clean resolution – what happens to Ito’s wife, Chisato??? – and the demands on the viewer’s attention and the ambiguous rewards in story make the 76 minutes feel longer and unfocused than it actually is but, sometimes, life is like that and having a film that demands attention and addresses social issues is a good thing in a sea of simple entertainment.

Despite these minor caveats the atmospherics are marvellous and the sense of being in this community is palpable, so much so, one feels a sense of relief when the story is closed and the memories put on hold. It’s a mature and enjoyably complex film that uses cinematic techniques to provide an all-encompassing sense of life in this community while tacking social issues in a subtle and intelligent way.

Takuya Misawa hails from Kanagawa and is a graduate from the Japan Institute of the Moving Image. He worked on various film productions as crew including as assistant director to Koji Fukada on Au Revoir L Éte (2013) before making his debut feature with the Kanagawa-set relationship comedy drama Chigasaki Story (2015). Produced by Kiki Sugino’s Wa Entertainment, it made waves on the festival circuit for not only for its well-engineered story of a group of academics and students stuck together at a beach resort but also its directorial style which evoked Yasujiro Ozu. Four years on, Misawa’s second feature The Murders of Oiso demonstrates a complete change of tone despite again  being set in Kanagawa.

Taking place in another seaside town, The Murders of Oiso is a noirish slice-of-life story set in the picturesque location of Oiso. It concerns how small-scale corruption is revealed when four friends, Tomoki (Haya Nakazaki), Shun (Koji Moriya), Kazuya (Yusaku Mori), and Eita (Shugo Nagashima) confront the crimes of the people around them and themselves after the death of an influential man in the town. The construction company they work for is used for illegal activities, Eita’s girlfriend far worse abuses are revealed.

Using a number of different narrators and multiple perspectives to reveal what is going on beneath the pretty exterior, the film features lots of twists, turns and social issues and asks for viewers to pay attention. Working with a Hong Kong film crew to create an unusual atmosphere for his actors, Misawa has made a unique and challenging film that brings the audience into worrying space. The film won the Japan Cuts Award at this year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival and it will play at the festival in New York later this year. Misawa took the time to have an interview to explain more about the story, creating the atmosphere and how he got his cast to perform.

How did you come up with the idea for this film?

After finishing my first feature film, I thought it was not enough for me to look at social issues and I wanted to bring my critical thinking about Japanese society to my next project. I wanted to look at labour form and gender balance in The Murder of Oiso. I didn’t want to show those events directly. I wanted the audience to focus on the process of how to recognise the issues of gender balance and so forth.

When you say gender balance?

For example, Kazuya, the main character, I think he’s a typical Japanese male who has the value of homophobia and misogyny. That’s why he’s jealous of Eita. Kazuya also looks down on women and he regards women as a kind of enemy who will break the relationship with his friends.

He doesn’t want Eita’s girlfriend in the workplace and he actually touches her at one point.

But we never see it.

You deliberately leave things ambiguous.

Actually we never watch the moment he touches her. Maybe we can assume he touched but that moment we cannot see. That touching and the violence, we just assume and expect.

You like to look at things indirectly. Why do you favour that style?

So, as I said about bringing my critical thinking about social issues, we never see social issues directly. We only recognise them indirectly from maybe a newspaper or website or an article. We read and listen to information and we expect or assume something as we make a point of view.

So it’s like replicating an average person’s awareness of social issues. It’s an interesting technique and you use non-linear narrative to establish that. How difficult is it to write in that style?

Super difficult and maybe it’s also a hard film for the audience to watch. I try to keep the emotions of the character, even with murders happening, because it is messed up, but the emotions I try to keep. For example, Tomoki keeps trying to keep Shun beside him.

Keep the gang together.

Yes.

The aftermath of the event actually tells just as much as seeing the event. How did you work with the actors to prepare for the roles and act out different scenes?

I kept two points in my mind on the location. One is eye line, the line of sight of the characters. This is very important to show each relationship. Even if they are alone, if someone looks down we can imagine their interior thinking. The second is the rhythm of the dialogue. You know this film has many layers. By the way, did you recognise that I was writing in the film?

That you are in the film? Yes, you also speak.

Oh, thank you. This is one layer and then the woman’s narration, and there are two or three layers. Each layer comes and goes because I wanted to make an artificial feeling so I asked each character to perform their dialogue blankly. Don’t make it too natural. Try to avoid realism. I wanted it to have a weird, unnatural feeling. For example, an actor changes the tempo of how they say something.

You have a female voice for narration, you appear in it and I initially thought the film was also from Tomoki’s point of view since he has an overarching role and view of what is going on and, at the end, he wakes up and it is like a dream. Why did you choose to use different layers as a framing device?

Similar motivation. I wanted to make the audience think about what the narrative is. What is the story. As I said, people read the newspaper and catch the information and it affects their thinking. If I say this information is the story, I want to make not only one narrative line but others so the audience can, or need, to think more about what happened in the film. What is this story? So I wanted to make the three layers, especially because I write things in the notebook but the woman’s voice speaks. I want to try and imply that the man writes, the woman talks but they are one voice. Maybe they are a different twist in expression and thinking about gender.

Do you have any concerns about how an audience engages with it?

I am still concerned. Despite that, each character’s emotion is enough for the audience to keep watching. I just hope that the audience doesn’t give up.

It’s quite interesting having a non-linear and multi-perspective story. The experience is quite suffocating. I feel like I am in this town and everybody is connected and implicated in a general criminality. Is that the sort of atmosphere you were going for?

Yes, but I want to mention that I created motifs like the bell ringing with the door and cutting the heads off characters in the frame. I talked with the cinematographer Timliu Liu to create some motifs in this film. I hope the audience connects each motif.

So you have, for the four central characters, you pick relatively unknown actors. Yusaku Mori, who plays Kazuya, has more experience than the others. Why did you select him and how did you build up the chemistry of the actors?

I met Yusaku Mori five years ago at the Osaka Asian Film Festival when I showed Chigasaki Story. He was here for Fires on the Plain and I met him at the festival’s welcome party. At that time, we said “hi, bye” (laughter) but I kept watching his performances on TV and in movies and I felt his performances were quite good. When I needed to choose the cast, four main characters, the three guys had to be relatively tall while Kazuya, while he is the most powerful in the group, he is a bit short and it’s a good contrast but this is a minor point. The most important thing for me when choosing the cast is good communication, on set and before shooting, when we talk about the script and character, it’s very important.

You allowed the actors to explore the roles?

We shared a kind of common sense. Five years ago, even though we shared five minutes, I knew Yusaku had good communication skills.

His character is very layered. On the one hand he is a bully on the other hand he is also a victim of circumstances. You deliberately made him sympathetic.

It’s kind of like a coin. He is a victim of the family as the only son who must succeed in the family business and he felt pressure and that stress makes him a bully.

An aspect of duality to this character and the town also has duality. On the surface it is beautiful and ordered but on the other hand it has dark social issues. Is this a comment on Japanese society?

Yes. I want to mention one thing. I said I want to bring my critical thinking to Japanese society but Japanese society also means myself. I also have the same problems and same issues. In this respect, this is why it’s very hard to write the script because I was sometimes a bully and sometimes the bullied child and also felt pressure from my family and community. Actually, I grew up in a similar situation to Kazuya.

It’s just a general aspect of the human experience and how we can be both good and bad.

Yes.

In terms of the visual style, you mentioned you talked to your cinematographer about capturing certain things. Did you storyboard it? How hard was the visual design?

We didn’t have a storyboard, we just talked and made a memo each night. Timliu Liu also from Hong Kong and he came to Japan before location scouting and he stayed in my home for three or four nights and we talked about this film. I remember he asked me to make a character bubble, a character map and mark out directions of emotions, to make it clear.

So it was getting the emotions of the characters and then you can decide how to shoot the scenes.

I asked him not to be too realistic or make it too close to the emotions of the characters. I wanted some distance.

The use of Dutch angles made it feel like a noir.

A noir, yes.

And, there’s a lot of tension from a horror tone when Shun walks through Ito’s house with the menacing flashback and there’s the sound of vinyl scratching which sounds menacing. It’s great audio design? Could you elaborate on how you used it to relay the story?

The sound design team were also from Hong Kong and they were excellent. I asked them to help create a noir feeling, a bit of a horror feeling, but don’t make the audience too scared, don’t use make the sound too meaningful. Like with the bell ringing, I wanted similar sounds and the soundtrack to have the same motif as the melody. It’s very abstract. I shared my image of this film. This film is like a spiral shape. Repetition but something different. They heard this request and made the sound different.

I didn’t mention before but some action happens out of frame. Sometimes we may not understand what happens out of frame. For example, at the warehouse, Kazuya may be touching Eita’s girlfriend but I told them about each event but don’t make it too meaningful.

How did Oiso as a location help with the story of the film?

I think this film didn’t show it directly but Oiso has a lot of historical connections to the modernisation of Japan. For example, Hirobumi Ito, the first Prime Minister of Japan, and Shigeru Yoshida, another Prime Minister, both had houses there. Other key guys related to Japan’s modern history had a second house there and some citizens in Oiso are proud of that and other historical things. I think it’s similar to Japan for me. The location is actually beautiful, it’s very small but there are various locations, seaside, countryside, mountains. At the same time I felt like the place was a bit ruined. The wind keeps coming from the sea and metals rust and this image fits in with my image of this film. It also takes place in the autumn. Beautiful colours but the leaves are going to die or be reborn.

Eiji Iwamoto’s music is really good. You worked with him on Chigasaki Story. Can you explain more about the music?

Actually, he’s not a professional musician, he’s an ex-professional. He also lives in Chigasaki and we were introduced by friends. In this production I told him that with this film I want to make the music have an impressionistic motif and I asked him to watch the Nagisa Oshima film, A Treatise on Japanese Bawdy Songs (aka Sing a Song of Sex). That film also has different layers and Oshima also used impressionistic music. It’s not similar but it’s all about developing emotion through the music until the last song.

It’s a very good track, I wanted to download it.

Maybe I can put it on Spotify (laughter)

It would be very popular. Would you say Oshima is an influence?

Before I wrote the script, Oshima was. Nagisa Oshima also described Japanese history and social systems so I wanted to write something like Nagisa Oshima.

It’s good to tackle subjects in such ways for the diversity of subjects in Japanese films. Do you have anything you want to say to the audience?

The theme is about inner thinking, something people may not know. It’s about the expression of inner thinking.

Thank you for doing the interview.

The Murders of Oiso was shown at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 7 and 14.

My interview with Takuya Misawa was first published on VCinema on March 24th.

Happy weekend, everyone!

I hope you are all well.

This is my first trailer post in a month and it’s because I am back in the UK after my month-long holiday in Japan.

While I was over there I worked at one film festival, the Osaka Asian Film Festival (as can be seen from my reviews), and I attended another in the place I used to live, Asagaya. I stayed in Osaka and Tokyo with friends, eating and drinking whilst the rest of the world was undergoing Coronavirus shock and social distancing. I was ever aware of the dangers and so I was prepared when I had to cut my time in Japan short by nine days due to British Foreign Office advice recommending people return home before too many countries closing their borders and airlines cancelling routes. I managed to get back home due to the help of two very special women who provided support at a critical time. I owe them a lot. I will continue to do my best for them and for everyone else.

What is released this weekend? Fewer films than we’ve seen in a while, probably due to Coronavirus.

Akira       

アキラ  「Akira」

Release Date: July 16th, 1988

Duration: 124 mins.

Director: Katsuhiro Otomo,

Writer: Katsuhiro Otomo, Izo Hashimoto (Screenplay)

Starring: Mitsuo Iwata (Shotaro Kaneda), Nozomu Sasaki (Tetsuo Shima), Mami Koyama (Kei), Takeshi Kusao (Kai), Tarô Ishida (Colonel Shikishima)

Production: Tokyo Movie Shinsha

Website   ANN  MAL

This is a classic. Like Ridley Scott’s movies Alien and Blade Runner, its aesthetics have influenced the look of a lot of animation and film and now it gets a 4K remaster which will play on 36 Japanese IMAX screens.

Synopsis: The year is 2019 and thirty-one years have passed since World War III. Neo-Tokyo is wracked with riots and clashes between the authorities and extreme political opponents. A child from a top secret government project interested in psychic powers is spirited away by one of these political extremist groups but gets caught up in a clash between young delinquent motorcycle gangs. This gang finds itself suddenly catching the interest of the authorities when one of the gang-members, Tetsuo, exhibits psychic powers. He is taken by the army to be experimented on but his mind might be more powerful than anybody could have guessed.

Keanin: Kokoro ni Saku Hana   

ケアニン　こころに咲く花「Keanin Kokoro ni Saku Hana」

Release Date: April 03rd, 2020

Duration: 100 mins.

Director: Kosuke Suzuki

Writer: Hideyuki Yamakuni (Script/Original Work),

Starring: Junki Tozuka, Kaori Shima, Katsuhiko Watabiki, Mariko Akama,

Website

Synopsis: A film that depicts the days of a new care worker named Kei (Junki Tozuka) who joins the staff of a large nursing home where the rules  prioritise efficiency and risk management. He questions these rules, especially when a woman named Miyoko comes in with a case of dementia. Her husband, Tatsuro, who had been caring for his wife at home, does not trust the facility and scrutinises Kei who soon falls foul of his bosses…

Suzushii Kokage   

すずしい木陰「Suzushii Kokage」

Release Date: April 04th, 2020

Duration: 96 mins.

Director: Fumio Moriya

Writer: Fumio Moriya (Script/Original Work),

Starring: Erisa Yanagi

Website

Synopsis: Fumio Moriya, a writer and actor who made his debut as a director with the 2017 film Manga Jima, makes another feature film with the seemingly simple concept of showing a girl sleeping in a hammock in the shade of some trees.  The audience finds out what’s going on. The sleeping girl is played by Eri Yanagi who appeared in Manga Jima, as well as a collection of other good indie films like A Gentle Breeze in the Village, Rolling and Ping Pang.

The Girl and the Gun 

Release Date: March 07th, 2020

Duration: 80 mins.

Director: Rae Red

Writer: Rae Red (Script),

Starring: Janine Gutierrez, Elijah Canlas, Felix Roco, JC Santos,

OAFF IMDB

Rae Red was introduced to the world through co-writing Birdshot (2017) with her cousin Mikhail Red. Since then, she has quickly accrued projects, collaborating with Mikhail on the scripts for his features Neomanila (2017) and Eerie (2018). In terms of directing, her debut was the short film Luna (2016) which was screened at the CineFilipino Film Festival while her debut feature, which she co-directed, Si Chedeng at Si Apple (2017), was screened at the Far East Film Festival and Kansai Queer Film Festival. The Girl with the Gun is her solo directorial debut and it displays a distinctive style that marks her out as a director of immense talent.

Easy to mistake as a humourless wokescold treatise on the nature of violence and gender relations, it puts us into the world of the titular girl which serves as a heightened depiction of the subjection of women to male behavior.

Barangay Tatalon in Quezon City is the place. The streets are lined with trash, smoke hangs in the air, and unsavory men prowl around, their eyes alive with lechery, mouths catcalling, while their bodies bristle with sex and violence, which the media they consume, on TV and in songs, conditions them to accept. There is an air of squalor, poverty and danger in the atmosphere. This is the environment that the girl (Janine Gutierrez), whom we never get a name for, has to wander through day and night to get to work. One there, the manager and customers harass her over her appearance, and when she finally gets home, her room-mate has an abusive boyfriend who crashes over. The girl’s face is riven with tiredness, disappointment and fear. She endures this every day.

We are very much aware that the girl is subject to the whims of men who perform every clichéd action in various sequences as they manspread, mansplain and manage to make the girl’s life harder in every conceivable way. Male dominance leaves her enduring financial hardship, period poverty and harassment and then, one day, she is assaulted. Humiliated and dejected, she is at her lowest ebb when she discovers a snub nosed pistol with a heart sticker discarded in the street following a shooting. A sudden transformation overtakes the girl. Fear morphs into righteous anger as the gun allows her to turn the tables and upset power structures. So we see her go through similar sequences to earlier in the film but now the men regard her with fear: the ones who treated her disrespectfully and hurt her now subject to experiencing with the same terror that she had to endure and the girl becomes like an avenging angel tackling the worst stereotypical masculine behavior. And then she can finally mete out justice to the man who assaulted her.

It would have been enough to have been a tongue-in-cheek revenge thriller where caricatured men are punished but the film switches from the girl’s storyline to the history of the gun, from its creation and use by agents of thee government against student activists in the 1980s before broadening out into a wider class-critique where the affects of violence are seen on young street kids who meet various, grisly fates. Its presence allows the story to naturally segue between characters as, by following the gun and who holds it, we get a glimpse of wider society. We see how the corrupting influence of its power affects characters as it allows them to upset gender roles and reshape or enforce the power structures prevalent in society, the rush of power and the feeling of emptiness after destruction. A second viewing is needed to discover just who ends up where and how they are all connected, but the storytelling cleverly creates an ecosystem of state-created and male-enforced violence which oppresses everyone regardless of sex.

The film is not subtle, or even entirely serious, and doesn’t intend to be. Excellent set-design and location choices really accentuate various themes. Many moments take place at night allowing the lighting to be moody as it flickers or is plunged into star colors due to the neon of surrounding electric signs and lamps. The jazz score bristles with cocky trumpets and persistent drumming that matches the ferocity of the Girl, who comes with a red cardigan like Little Red Riding Hood. Gutierrez is compelling as the main character as she morphs from frightened prey to avenging angel to a woman who has some balance. Her facial expressions and closed body language capture the look of a woman as a scared rabbit at first as she endures all of the difficulties mapped out by Red’s set-up. Yet she is totally different when letting the anger burst forth. It is liberating, amusing and a little scary as her voice rises, her features contort into various scowls and her body hums with barely constrained violence which, as the film shows effectively, is intoxicating and empowering, if ultimately bad.

With its stirring atmospherics and smart story that fleshes out the background for the gun and how it can change people, The Girl with the Gun is an effective pathology of violence that allows us to understand why it is addictive and what can go horribly wrong.

The Girl with the Gun was shown at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 7 and will be shown again on March 11.

Yan   

燕Yan 「Tsubame Yan」

Release Date: June 05th, 2020

Duration: 86 mins.

Director: Keisuke Imamura

Writer: Noriko Washizu (Script),

Starring: Long Mizuma, Takashi Yamanaka, Yo Hitoto, Ryushin Tei, Mitsuru Hirata, Yoji Tanaka, Satomi Nagano,

OAFF Website

Japan and Taiwan have the sort of close ties that embody all aspects of the hurt and joy of human relations. From language to politics, Japan’s time as colonial ruler to the post-war economics of industry and tourism, the exchange of people and ideas has been constant. It proves fertile ground for Keisuke Imamura’s feature-length directorial debut Yan, which uses both cultures for a story of one Japanese man’s self-discovery as he finds out more about his mother, his birthplace and, ultimately, himself.

28-year-old Tsubame Hayakawa (Long Mizuma) has seemingly achieved everything. He has his dream job at an architectural firm, a girlfriend and lives comfortably in Tokyo. Yet on the inside, he has a history of self-doubt, which is revealed when he is asked by his father to hand-deliver a document to his older brother Ryushin (Takashi Yamanaka) in Taiwan. Tsubame is reluctant. It has been 23 years since they last saw each other after their mother, Toshie (Hitoto Yo) disappeared with Ryushin one night and left Tsubame behind. He has never forgiven them for leaving him but his father’s request is a final one as the old man faces the end of his life and wants to protect both his sons from debts he has accrued. Tsubame reluctantly accepts this task and heads to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to search for Ryushin. This not only entails a physical journey back to the place he was born but also as a psychological one as Tsubame confronts painful memories of prejudice and abandonment he experienced.

Noriko Washizu’s screenplay centres on Tsubame’s growth from facing the past to making peace with being a dual-heritage person as well as his mother’s complicated actions. It extends from his coping with immediate situations such as being a perpetual outsider and the culture shock he feels as he searches his birthplace for his brother to discovering aspects of his mother who he has felt resentment towards for making his life difficult. Washizu’s use of intermittent flashbacks to color in the present-tense narrative is schematic but skilfully draws out the duality of Tsubame being half-Taiwanese and half-Japanese, starting with his name (which means swallow, a bird that migrates from Japan to Taiwan) to the cultural traditions that Toshie introduces him to in a Japanese setting, the love she had for him and the prejudice they experienced which he unwittingly deepened with a naïve desire to be fully Japanese. These provide impetus to his character arc and his gradual understanding of himself and who his mother was that culminates in an emotionally powerful climax where he reckons with the past.

Cinematographer-turned-director Imamura, who shot the colorful manga-extravaganza adaptation Teiichi – Battle of Supreme High (2017) and low-key political thriller The Journalist (2019), takes a sensuous approach to this emotional journey. Initially fussy with various techniques, it soon becomes smooth with flowing camera movement and editing combined with an accentuated soundscape to put us in the same head-space as the characters. This is most prominently done with Tsubame as wanders around Kaohsiung. We feel his alienation in sequences where there is a cacophony of sounds and the Chinese language flying around, the stream of faces and details of places and close-ups on his sweat-covered face as he is plunged into a maelstrom of confusion and wrestles with being an outsider. These moments parallel the alienation from his childhood, as shown in the calmer, icier flashbacks, where he was ostracized for having Taiwanese roots. Sometimes, the adult Tsubame even enters these sequences as he dredges up memories to show the connection.

What helps this familiar story along his how genuine it all feels. This comes down to the fact that a lot of the cast have mixed roots, starting with lead actor Long who was born in China, to pop singer Yo who is herself half-Taiwanese. Their own experiences have been tied into the making of the film, as are their language abilities as they flit in and out of Japanese and Chinese. Alongside Japanese actor Yamanaka and a cast of locals, they create a sense of authenticity in a script that already has the nuances of both cultures and the clashes that emerge when prejudice alienates people from one another. Always beautiful to watch and full of interesting parallels, the intricacies of cross-cultural and cross border relationships are laid bear in an engaging story of learning to love oneself.

Yan was shown at the Oaska Asian Film Festival on March 8 and 11.

My review was published on V-Cinema on April 03rd.

Happy weekend, everyone!

It has been a while. I hope you are all okay!

Yesterday we lost the legend that is Nobuhiko Obayashi. He died at the age of 82, almost four years when he was given just four months to live after being diagnosed with cancer. Even though I wrote reviews for just two films (Hausu  back in 2011 and Hanagatami in 2018), it feels like I wrote about him every year because his films were constantly in circulation. I was even inspired to visit Onomichi in 2018 and photograph some locations he filmed in. Anyway, he was feted around the world and worked to the very end, as evidenced by the large amount of films by him or connected to him at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.

It feels like the Japanese movie industry is in a gentle decline as adaptations, compilations, TV movies and mediocrities dominate due to production committees who hoover up profits while the artists making content are underpaid and have their creativity stifled. With Obayashi’s passing, the industry has lost some of its magic. He was imaginative and had a creative streak and boyish enthusiasm that made his films charming. We’ll not see an artist like him again so we should treasure the works he created, many of which will continue to be screened.

RIP Nobuhiko Obayashi

Anyway, I was in Japan for a month and I returned to the UK almost a fortnight ago after working at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. I’ve been publishing reviews and interviews I did while there and since returning to the UK, I’ve been in self-quarantine to make sure I don’t have Coronavirus so I’m kind of in the perfect position to keep writing even though the world is in the grip of a medical disaster (prompted by unfettered capitalism and poor governance mostly instituted by governments run by right-wingers).

Anyway, due to being busy, I missed all of March from the trailer posts. Due to Coronavirus, films are being pulled from Japanese cinemas, I can play catch-up.

What is released this weekend and what was released on the first weekend of March?

What was released on April 10th

Wonderwall   

ワンダーウォール　劇場版　 「Wanda- Wo-ru Gekijouban」

Release Date: March 06th, 2020 April 10th, 2020

Duration: 68 mins.

Directors: Yuuki Maeda

Writers: Aya Watanabe (Script), 

Starring: Ren Sudo, Amane Okayama, Riko Narumi, Kazunori Mimura, Haya Nakazaki, Ryuya Wakaba, Momiji Yamamura,

Website IMDB

Kyoto is a city famous for history, culture and a university that has an active student body. A TV drama was made about students seeking to protect the atmosphere at thee uni starring Riko Narumi (Shindo) and Ren Sudo (Saigo no Shinpan). This is the movie version.

Synopsis: Konoeryo is a university dormitory in Kyoto which has a long history attached to it. So long, that it’s probably time to tear it down and build something neew. However, some students want to keep the building intact and so a conflict occurs but the emergence of a beautiful woman could solve the issue…  How? I don’t know, I haven’t watched the drama.

What was released on March 06th and 07th?

A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad’s an Alcoholic 

酔うと化け物になる父がつらい　 「You to bakemono ni naru chichi ga tsurai」

Release Date: March 06th, 2020

Duration: 95 mins.

Directors: Kenji Katagiri

Writers: Kenji Katagiri, Ayumu Kyuma (Script), Mariko Kikuchi (Original Book)

Starring: Honoka Matsumoto, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Rie Tomosaka, Shohei Uno, Joe Odagiri, Tamae Ando, Kenta Hamano, Yui Imaizumi,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Adapted from a comic essay by Mariko Kikuchi who turned her hellish life into a story about a girl named Saki (Hoka Matsumoto) whose father (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) is an alcoholic and whose mother is a follower of a new religion. Saki hate’s her father’s behaviour when he is drunk and loutish. The support of her sister and best friend, and the ability to turn her life into a comic gets Saki through the collapse of her family.

Matsuri no ato wa matsuri no mae   

祭りの後は祭りの前　 「Matsuri no ato wa matsuri no mae」

Release Date: March 06th, 2020

Duration: 90 mins.

Directors: Renpei Tsukamoto

Writers: Renpei Tsukamoto (Script), 

Starring: Raiga Terasaka, Kanade Nonoda, Takanori Shimizu, Takuya Uragami, Toy Yokoyama, Rikuto Kanda, Jukiya Takasaki, Shizuka Nakamura, Shunya Itabashi,

Website

Synopsis: This is the first movie starring the Matsuri Nine boys who are pop idols in their high school. News emerges that there will be a meteorite about to hit the Earth just as one of their members has an accident before a live concert but a magic lamp could be a game-changer…

Gekijouban Oishii Kyuushoku Final Battle   

劇場版　おいしい給食 Final Battle　 「Gekijouban Oishii Kyuushoku Final Battle」

Release Date: March 06th, 2020

Duration: 102 mins.

Directors: Shinya Ayabe

Writers: Shinya Ayabe, Yuuji Nagamori (Script),

Starring: Hayato Ichihara, Rena Takeda, Taishi Sato, Hana Toyoshima, Maiko Ito,

Website

Synopsis: A movie version of the TV show set in the 1980s where a teacher (Hayato Ichihara) who loves the school lunch can’t tolerate a student who brings lunch from home. 

Stardust Over the Town 

星屑の町　 「Hoshikuzu no Machi」

Release Date: March 06th, 2020

Duration: 102 mins.

Directors: Taiichi Sugiyama

Writers: Ryuji Mizutani (Script), 

Starring: Non, Takayasu Komiya, Saburo Taihei, Denden (Yoshihiro Ogata), Takayasu Komiya, Lasalle Ishii,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: “Osamu Yamada and Hello Nights” are a long-running band of crooners who sing hits from the 60s and 70s. They haven’t been a hit themselves and so  they have been barely surviving, making tours in provincial areas. One day the band is invited to perform in the small town where their leader Osamu was born. Some of his family aren’t too happy at his return and the boys are in need of someone to spice up their act which is what barmaid Ai (Non) could do, but that might be a problem because, while she can sing, one member of Hello Nights may be her father…

Fukushima 50   

フクシマ フィフティー　 「Fukushima 50」

Release Date: March 06th, 2020

Duration: 122 mins.

Directors: Setsuro Wakamatsu

Writers: Youichi Maekawa (Script), Ryusho Kadota (Original Book)

Starring: Koichi Sato, Ken Watanabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Narumi Yasuda,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Based on reality, when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake strikes the Tohoku region of Japan on March 11, 2011, it triggers a giant tsunami which hits the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The workers struggle to control the situation with the manager Masao Yoshida (Ken Watanabe) doing his best to communicate between the 50 workers on the ground, thee company, the Japanese government and thee military. Can they prevent a devastating nuclear disaster?

Mask Ward   

仮面病棟　 「Kamen Byoto」

Release Date: March 06th, 2020

Duration: 114 mins.

Directors: Hisashi Kimura

Writers: Hisashi Kimura (Script), Mikito Chinen (Script/Original Novel)

Starring: Mei Nagano, Kentaro Sakaguchi, Rio Uchida, Aki Asakura, Noriko Eguchi, Ryohei Otani, Masanobu Takashima, Tomomi Maruyama,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Shugo Hayami (Kentaro Sakaguchi) and Hitomi Kawasaki (Mei Nagano) are working the night shift at a hospital which was formerly a psychiatric institute. When a masked man takes over the facility, Hitmoi is shot. The intruder tells Shugo to treat her as they are now some of the 64 people he has taken hostage in the hospital. The two doctors decide to try to escape but encounter strange cases.

Watashi wa bundan o yurusanai   

わたしは分断を許さない　 「Watashi wa bundan o yurusanai」

Release Date: March 07th, 2020

Duration: 105 mins.

Directors: Jun Hori

Writers: Kenji Kitamura (Script), 

Starring: N/A

Website

Synopsis: Jun Hori is a journalist who takes on various issues around the world in this film such as the Hong Kong protests, a family split apart by the conflict in Syria, the Fukushima meltdown and opposition to the US base in Henoko. 

The Dancing Homeless   

ダンシングホームレス　 「Danshingy Ho-muresu」

Release Date: March 07th, 2020

Duration: 99 mins.

Directors: Wataru Miura

Writers: N/A

Starring: Yuuki Aoki, Masato Yokouchi, Haruo Ito, Atsushi Nishi, Yoshiharu Watanabe, Shoichiro Hirakawa,

Website

Synopsis: A documentary that captures the activities of the dance troupe “Sokerissa!” (which comes from the Japanese, “sore ike!” “Step forward!”) who are led by the choreographer Yuki Aoki who works with the homeless living on Tokyo’s streets. The group are accepting of others, regardless of how they came to be on the street, and they see dancing as a point of contact with the rest of society. While the dancers may have lost material things and families, they still own their bodies with which they take part in pure physical expression. You can find out more about the group’s activity here and the documenary.

Mita Dances   

踊ってミタ　 「Odotte Mita」

Release Date: March 07th, 2020

Duration: 105 mins.

Directors: Toshimisu Iizuka

Writers: Toshimisu Iizuka (Script), Mikito Chinen (Script/Original Novel)

Starring: Amane Okayama. Konatsu Kato, Rena Takeda, Yuuichi Nakamura, Riri, Mayu Yokota, Yua Shiraishi,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Mita (Amane Okayama) is a young man who had hoped to escape his boring town and become a successful videographer in Tokyo but his dreams didn’t materialise and he is forced to return. He’s now working for the town council in the tourism department and is tasked with attracting tourists. He is given just two weeks. Mita decides to make a video of his town but with no tourist attractions or areas of interest, it’s a tough task. He does have one great resource: the people of the town whom he ropes in to dance. A former idol could be a secret weapon that brings everything together. Director Toshimitsu Iizuka reunites with Poetry Angel cast members Amane Okayama and Rena Takeda to tell this story.

This is a quick post just to promote a crowdfunding event to support independent cinemas across Japan during the Coronavirus epidemic. 

It’s called Mini Theater Aid and it launched earlier today and lasts until May 15th with a target amount 100,000,000 yen that is hoped to be raised. It was set up by the directors Koji Fukada (Harmonium, Au revoir l’ete) and Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Happy Hour) in response to the closure of small cinemas up and down Japan as the country tries to contain Coronavirus infections.

Due to the recent declaration of a state of emergency, public venues have had to close and this means they will not be able to make money. In the absence of paying customers and any support from the government in paying rent and salaries and so forth, these cinemas may find themselves struggling as the shutdown unfolds. This emergency fund will help guarantee that these establishments, all of which are important to the cinema ecosystem of Japan, can keep going. It’s these cinemas that sustain indie films since they give the movies limited runs across the year as the films tour the country. In short, without these cinemas, indie film directors, film students and audiences would struggle to screen their works and people would struggle to see these films, especially in a community setting.

Not only are these cinemas places where people can watch films and meet filmmakers, each establishment has its own atmosphere that represents the community it serves and acts as a focal point for the unique cinematic knowledge and viewpoints of everyone involved. Any loss would only hurt film culture. Therefore, it is important to support these establishments for the wider community.

There are various tiers of support available running from 3000 yen to 500000 yen. Rewards include thanks from the organisers to being able to screen a whole bunch of indie films. In effect, this is similar to Donation Theater from two years ago although, in addition to streaming films, you can get various passes to see films at the theatres you help.

Many of the films are indies that have been written about in trailer posts and there will be a film by One Cut of the Dead director Shinichiro Ueda who will shoot his work remotely. It’s all in Japanese but easy to navigate. Some of the films are highly-rated indies so this is definitely worth donating to if you have enough cash and love Japanese movies. There are a diverse bunch of titles like Ryutaro Ninomiya’s drama Minori, on the Brink (Ojochan, 2019), the documentary about disabled athletes Kick (Dir: Kazuhiko Nakamura, 2018) and the dark dramas Peep TV Show and Thallium Girl’s Poisoning Diary AKA GFP Bunny both from Tsuchiya Yutaka, Koji Fukada’s Human Comedy Tokyo and Hospitalite and many more.

I’ve been to about five of these cinemas:

Uplink Kichijoji (Musashino City), Shimokitazawa Tollywood (Setagaya-ku), Yujiku Asagaya (Suginami-ku), Kawagoe Scala Theater, Saitama Prefecture (Kawagoe City) and Cine Nouveau (Osaka City).

Indeed, I was at Uplink Kichijoji and Yujiku Asagaya only a few weeks ago when my girlfriend and I went to see a wonderful exhibit dedicated to the stop-motion film Gon, the Little Fox and a small animation festival made up of student works at each venue respectively. Each venue had its own unique atmosphere and was able to put on a dedicated show that revealed the craft behind the films as well as meet thee filmmakers at Yujiku Asagaya. As nice as streaming something is, it cannot facilitate such interactions which is why these places must survive.

Many creatives from Toshiko Hata to Ryutaro Ninomiya, Naomi Kawase and Kiyoshi Kurosawa are supporting this and the breakdown of how the funds will be spent looks like it will provide the best help for cinemas in these trying times.

You can donate to the campaign here: https://motion-gallery.net/projects/minitheateraid/updates

You can follow the campaign on Twitter at @MiniTheaterAID

These are tough times. If you can support, I am sure it would be greatly appreciated. Most importantly, take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Wear a mask, avoid crowds, and wash your hands with soap.

Super-talented director Noriko Yuasa has a project on Kickstarter for an independent film she has worked on called Coming Back Sunny. The film is a love story about a colour-blind schoolgirl named Shiori (Riria Kojima) who is suddenly able to see the world around her just in time for fate to draw her on a journey where she will fall in love with someone.

Here is the trailer on Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/norikokyuasa/short-film-coming-back-sunny-crowdfunding-first-phase?fbclid=IwAR2sFeg_EpSdIU2Pe314Y6nSwyu8oPJgzKuk37e0FpaysLb8lM0F0OUPr-A

Noriko Yuasa has been directing films for over 20 years and she has made an impact on the festival circuit. This film is her latest one and was originally part of the omnibus movie Seisyun Kaleidoscope which was released in Japan in August of last year and it is now being developed into a feature. Here is my write up original omnibus film.

Seisyun Kaleidoscope   

青春カレイドスコープ 「Seishun Kareidosuko-pu」

Release Date: August 24th, 2019

Duration: 128 mins.

Director: Noriko Yuasa, Tomoyuki Kamimura, Yuuji Abe,

Writer: Noriko Yuasa, Tomoyuki Kamimura, Yuuji Abe, Kijin Nishi (Script),

Starring: Okaeri Kakko: Riria Kojima, Honoka Yoneyama; Ashita Kitto Motto: Miori, Mirei Tanaka, Yu Miyazawa, Masako Wakui; Natsuiro no Mafura-: Suzuka Chinzei, Haruka Momokawa,

Website   IMDB

Synopsis: An omnibus movie composed of youth stories played out by young actresses and written/directed by up-and-coming directors. “Okaeri Kakko” (director: Noriko Yuasa – Ordinary Everyday, Girl, Wavering) who has issues with her vision and seeing red/green which causes her world to have vivid colours. “Ashita Kitto Motto” ( Tomoyuki Kamimura) is about a girl who dreams of being a voice actor. She works with a colleague who likes cosplay and they draw characters. Natsuiro no Mafura (Yuuji Abe) depicts friendships and first loves.

The reason for the Kickstarter is that Yuasa will use the funds for the cost of post-production expenses (like DCP creation), for promotional fees, for festival submissions and also to fund travel and accommodation expenses for here crew so they can network at different festivals. This will help to make sure her film reaches audiences all over the world in the best condition possible and boost the profile of independent Japanese film makers. There is also the hope that the funds will be able to allow Yuasa and her team to continue working on future projects which are already in production.

So, regular readers of this blog will probably know that I am a big fan of Noriko Yuasa and I have reviewed Looking for my Lost Sunflowers (2014),  Girl, Wavering (2015) and Ordinary Everyday (2017), which I absolutely loved. My concluding paragraph of the review states,

“Noriko Yuasa’s ability to dive into a strange story and her inventive use of sound and visual design makes this a fun film to watch and shows her to be a talent capable of mastering the narrative form and someone with a career audiences should start tracking.”

I loved the film so much, it was one of my favourites of the last decade. With these thoughts in mind and discovering that this is a film based on the use of colours, I am super-excited! Yuasa truly uses cinema to tell a story. She is an artist.

Yuasa explains about what she wanted to do on Kickstarter page:

I took a method of using color to visualize the very moment the main character encounters love. The main character, Shiori, is a high school girl with color blindness, and I wanted her to recognize the feeling of love through color.  This is a film depicted with vivid colors and modern music, which portrays her emotions when she discovers this rush for the first time. I hope this emotion and sentiment can transpire to all audiences.

There are various levels of support people can pledge including a thank you video from the director and producer as well as digital access to two of Yuasa’s short films, and the chance to have your name in the credits.

If you want to support the project or find out more, please visit the film’s Kickstarter page where you can see the opening five minutes of the short.

The deadline for Coming Back Sunny is April 19th and while it has already reached its goal, there’s still time to get involved and help support a talented indie filmmaker.

Happy weekend, everyone!

I hope everyone is staying safe during these troubled times.

I went back to work this week, the first time since February. I’ve been on something of an extended holiday, first in Japan then in my bedroom as I’ve self-isolated. I’m healthy as far as I know but there is always the worry when being around other people and I hope it stays that way. I hope you’re feeling fine and dandy, as well.

I’ve been writing, catching up on reviews and interviews but my head is in a funny space where I cannot focus on much but piecemeal work. Studying Japanese has gone out of the window. I’m trying to get back into that.

I started watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and I have been impressed by what I’ve seen and Zenitsu Agatsuma is one of my new favourite characters, a golden-haired cowardly lothario with a heart of gold and exaggerated behaviour that makes me laugh a lot.

This week, I watched all Indiana Jones films since the BBC screened them and I’ve always got time for Indiana Jones. I posted about two ways people can help Japanese indie movies. The first post was about the Mini Theater Aid Campaign to save small movie theatres that host indie movies. The second post was about a Kickstarter campaign to help publicise the film Coming Back Sunny run by Noriko Yuasa, the director of the fabulous film Ordinary Everyday (2017).

Just like last week’s one, this trailer post is a catch-up from the one I missed in March. It happened just as the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020 was about to reach its climax so my mind was elsewhere.

What was released that weekend – March 13 – 15th?

Columbus   

Release Date: August 04th, 2017

Duration: 114 mins.

Director: Kogonada

Writer: Kogonada (Screenplay)

Starring: John Cho, Haley Lu Richardson, Parker Posey, Rory Culkin, Eren Allegretti, 

IMDB   Japanese Website

This had it’s Japanese premiere at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2018 where I watched it and pretty much burst into tears at the end. You can read my review here but it’s one of the best movies I saw in the last decade.

Synopsis: The foundations of the story lie with a meeting outside the grand Victorian-style hotel Korean-American Jin (John Cho) is staying in. He has arrived in Columbus from Seoul to look after his estranged father, an admired architecture professor who has fallen into a coma on the eve of a lecture. Pretty much alone and isolated in town, he experiences something akin to culture-shock as he wrestles with being away from work in Korea and looking after a man he hasn’t spoken to in over a year. During one phone call with “home”, he encounters Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) who was planning on attending his father’s lecture. This bright and intelligent 19-year-old graduated from high school a year ago but has taken on part-time work as a librarian to look after a troubled mother, having convinced herself this is the right path instead of pursuing her own dreams. Meeting over cigarettes shared over a fence, Casey and Jin talk. Small stuff at first. He hates being in Columbus while she genuinely likes it. He’s not fond of architecture while she believes in its power to change people. She tries to win him over by telling him about the town. Teasing and uneasiness turns into a form of connection and their world expands little by little as the conversation flows between the two and they recognise shared problems with errant parents and filial piety.

Extro   

Ekisutoro　 「エキストロ」

Release Date: March 13th, 2020

Duration: 89 mins.

Directors: Naoki Murahashi

Writers: Hirohito Goto (Script), Mariko Kikuchi (Original Book)

Starring: Kozo Haginoya, Koji Yamamoto, Yuki Saito, Tatsumi Fujinami, Ryo Kato, Riho Kotani, Nobuhiko Obayashi,

Website

Naoki Murahashi makes his debut with this feature and it looks absolutely charming. It featuress Nobuhiko Obayashi who passed away last week.

And here’s a music video:

Synopsis: This is a mockumentary that follows real-life bit-part player Kozo Haginoya (Kozo Haginoya), a man who works as an extra for drama series and movies. He is 64-years-old and while he works as a dental technician and part-time farmer in Ibaraki Prefecture,, his true passion is for acting. The camera follows him around the set of a period drama shot in a film studio and things go slightly awry when two cops on the hunt for a drug dealer go undercover in the same production.

Kizoku Korin: Prince of Legend   

貴族降臨 PRINCE OF LEGEND　 「Kizoku Korin: Prince of Legend」

Release Date: March 13th, 2020

Duration: 93 mins.

Directors: Hayato Kawai

Writers: Yuko Matsuda (Script), Mariko Kikuchi (Original Book)

Starring: Alan Shirahama, Ryota Katayose, Nobuyuki Suzuki, Itsuki Fujiwara, Tomoki Hirose, Reo Sano, Ryo Kato,

Website

I don’t even know where to begin with this one other than it’s the continuation of a series which looks as coherent as the K Missing Kings anime – essentially a lot of pretty boys fighting for dominance of territory. 

Synopsis: There is a town where handsome hosts control what goes on and they  fight each other for supremacy through fists, profits and panache. Their code of conflict is the only law this town knows. One man, Shintaro, is seemingly divorced from things since he is the president of a civil engineering group he inherited from his parents. Then, the number one host of the number one club, “Texas”, appears. He is Shintaro’s brother. appears. Why? Who knows. It’s probably revealed in the film. Meanwhile, over at St. Brilliant School, some other pretty boys are getting ready for a basketball tournament but they are drawn into the brother’s conflict.

Toki no Kouro   

時の行路　 「Toki no Kouro」

Release Date: March 13th, 2020

Duration: 111 mins.

Directors: Seijiro Kouyama

Writers: Yasufumi Tsuchiya, Seijiro Kouyama (Script), Hajime Tajima (Original Book)

Starring: Ken Ishiguro, Shinobu Nakayama, Jun Matsuo, Sakura Murata, Dai Watanabe,

Website

Synopsis: A human drama about the human cost of the financial shock of 2008 when the collapse of Lehman Brothers caused economic calamity around the world. Yosuke Gomi works in a factory of a major car manufacturer in Shizuoka. He left his loving wife in Aomori. Yosuke’s skills as a veteran technician means he is trusted by his bosses and his colleagues. However, one day, suddenly, a large number of part-timers and freelance workers are fired. Yosuke joins the labour union with his colleagues after hearing about this scandalous behaviour and he stands up for his coworkers in solidarity…

The capitalists may have the money but the workers have the numbers and those oligarchs are nothing without the people who generate their wealth. All power to the people! 

Independent Living   

インディペンデントリビング　 「Indipendento Ribingu」

Release Date: March 13th, 2020

Duration: 98 mins.

Directors: Yuki Tanaka

Writers: N/A

Starring: N/A

Website

I recognise some of the areas in these films because I was there a month ago ;_;

Synopsis: A documentary recording the activities of people at the Independent Living Center in Osaka and their struggle. The place is managed by those with disabilities and helps people with disabilities who need assistance to live independently in their local communities rather than with their families or in facilities. This could be a life-threatening challenge for some and there are failures but everyone makes their own decisions and forges their own identity. Director Yuki Tanaka, who also works as a carer, shot the film over three years and looks at those who struggle to change themselves and society, and reflects the moments and brilliance and humanity of people who are frequently ignored or locked away.

Yan is the feature debut by Keisuke Imamura, a cinematographer who began his career by teaching himself to shoot independent films while studying at Nihon University’s Department of Fine Arts. After graduation, he apprenticed with KIYO and made his debut as a cinematographer at the age of 24, first with indies before moving on to bigger titles. An early collaboration with the director Michihito Fujii on Kemuri no Machi no Yori Yoki Mirai wa (2012) proved to be the beginning of a fruitful relationship as they would work together again on Tokyo City Girl (2015), Day and Night (2019) and The Journalist (2019). Imamura’s career has encompassed titles as diverse as the drama Phantom Limb (2014) and manga-extravaganza Teiichi: Battle of Supreme High (2017).

For his feature debut Yan (review here), Imamura retains the glossy look of his big films but uses it to channel the intimate story of a man discovering his roots and making it as sensuous as possible so we feel his emotions. Tsubame (Long Mizuma) is half-Taiwanese, half-Japanese and living a comfortable existence in Tokyo. However, a request from his father to track down his older brother Ryushin (Takashi Yamanaka) leads to the unearthing of painful memories of a family separation and his own alienation due to his dual-heritage status and the departure of his mother (played by the pop star Hitoto Yo). It’s a universal story that sees Tsubame find peace with himself and connect with a mother he never understood. Imamura sat down after the world premiere of the film at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020 and talked about its background.

This interview was conducted with the help of the translators Keiko Matsushita and Takako Pocklington.

Thank you for agreeing to do interview. I think your film is very beautiful. The camerawork really translated the emotions of the characters. Can you describe the background of the film?

[Emiko] Matsuno-san, [the planner] offered me the project. It was already decided that the story contains the themes of discovering where your identity is or your relation to your mother and also that it should be shot in Taiwan when I was offered it.

How did you work on the script?

I had a rough plot at first, and went location hunting with my staff. I started it with finding a shooting location.

There are a lot of the camera movements and editing techniques in the film. Did you storyboard the process or was it spontaneous?

I didn’t draw a storyboard for this film. I had already had an image in my head when I read the script since I did the camera work as well. This time, rather than deciding on how to set up a shot beforehand, I often went to the scene and took pictures with the actors and everyone moving.

Because you’ve had lots of experiences working with other directors as a cinematographer, you have confidence just spontaneously creating all these shots.

I remember the atmosphere or style of shooting physically without thinking. I usually shoot whilst looking at the script and create a style like that or whilst discussing it with the director and I did it the same way for this film as well. Reading the script, then entering the story. The way I went into the story was different this time though as I played both role of cinematographer and director, there wasn’t much differences between two roles in shooting.

Could you visualize the film quite easily in terms of creating specific aesthetic look to give the emotions to the characters? 

My usual role is shooting things created to a certain extent already, but this time I joined the team as a director and I could get involved in the film from various aspects. I could start with creating the image of the settings, for example, (the interior and exterior of) the house in Taiwan and in Japan. I am usually not involved in editing either but as I was shooting by myself I remembered every moment of each take, so I could edit it. I thought this (being a director and cinematographer) could be more interesting than just shooting as a director.

The story contains themes of family and discrimination. Discrimination seemed quite prevalent. Tsubame experiences it in Taiwan. His brother and his mother also experienced it in Japan. Was it a particular theme you were interested in?

This is a story set in Taiwan and Japan but even within Japan, in a regional or urban area, or even different parts of Tokyo, you might question where you belong, … It could also mean, not just an actual place, it could be a place where you can feel that you are accepted. I think there are lots of people who could feel that way and could empathise with the characters.

Yes, it was powerfully delivered. People in the west may not be familiar with Japan and Taiwan’s relations, how deeply connected they are. Would you like to describe them?

I think that Asia has been attracting global attention lately, like Asian films or visuals. It seems that there are lots of films or visuals themed on diverse culture. Something like Joker or Parasite…  I think there are not many Japanese films that focus on people who have an ordinary life, but there are lots of films with these themes in the world. I thought if I depict these themes in settings in Asia or Japan, people would be interested in them.

I can’t think of many other Japanese films that have Taiwanese characters that aree available in the west. Takashi Miike’s film like Shinjuku Black Triad Society or Dead or Alive have Taiwanese characters or people of Taiwanese descent but these are very extreme depictions. Could you describe the shoot? Did you work with the Taiwanese crew, how different is it working with Taiwanese crew and Japanese crew?

I worked with almost same number of Japanese and Taiwanese crew. Of course it depends on each person, but they were all nice and helpful. I have worked abroad quite a few times, in America and in France. I tend to work with local staff, not taking my own staff. Taiwan is (physically) close to Japan and also characteristically close as well. The Taiwanese staff were interested in Japanese staff and also the way Japanese work. It was really nice that they were interested in us just as much as we were interested in them.

Could you talk about the casting of the film? One of the themes of the film is duality and that applies to some of the cast, like a lot of actors have roots in other countries. Long Mizuma was born in China but lives and works in Japan, Yo Hitoto is from Taiwan but lives in Japan. Did you have them in mind when you read the script or did you go for a casting process?

The main actor, Long Mizuma, was cast from the beginning. He even came along with us for the location hunting. He already presented himself as Yan at the time when this project started. It seemed like it was himself in the story. Since I am an ordinary Japanese and don’t have any background as half-Taiwanese or half-Japanese, I wanted to cast someone who has got that background and they also helped me to understand what it is like or how they feel about being half Taiwanese/Japanese. I appreciated that I could listen to their own feelings and they have actually experienced the same things as depicted in the story. Their own stories were also incorporated into the film. They helped me on the storyline as well.

Takashi Yamanaka is Japanese but he plays Ryushin in the film and he’s a mixed-race person with Japanese and Taiwanese heritage. How did he perform?

Yamanaka-san couldn’t speak Chinese, he hadn’t even been to Taiwan before, so I asked him to learn Chinese intensively before shooting. He probably had a much more tough time than others during the shoot. Acting in the Chinese language for him must have been very hard. However, I thought he looked naturally half Taiwanese/Japanese and his acting made him look like Ryushin. He was practicing his Chinese until the very last moment before shooting and I think he is good at picking up language by ear. The local people also gave him praise.

As you were working with Taiwanese actors, did you use the local casting directors?

I cast Ryushin’s son Youan. I saw several children when I went location hunting and chose the childhood Youan from among the children. I chose other characters by seeing photos or videos, which I had received beforehand. I deliberately chose Taiwanese who have grown up and reside in the location rather than actors. That’s why they looked natural and accustomed to the town.

As a cinematographer, who is your biggest inspiration?

Bong Joon-ho. You know his latest one is Parasite… I like Bon Joon-ho’s films. I like his pictures … his camera blocking.

As a director, who is your biggest inspiration?

Among Japanese directors, I like Kon Ichikawa or Kiyoshi Kurosawa. I like directors whose films I watched when I was a student.

Another question I’d like to ask…Who is your favorite Taiwanese director?

Edward Yang and Ko I-chen.

Thank you very much for making the movie.

Yan was shown at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 8 and 11.

My interview was published on VCinema on April 20th.

When I backed director Noriko Yuasa’s Kickstarter for funding the festival run of Coming Back Sunny, I was directed to another Japanese film seeking funding. This one is a romantic musical called Make-Believers which is aims to be, to quote the organisers, “a first-of-its-kind, Hollywood-influenced, musical romance set in Japan.”  Here is the Kickstarter link.

Make-Believers  

夢見びと 「Yumemibito」

Release Date: May 01st, 2020

Duration: 128 mins.

Director: Kenjo McCurtain

Writer: Kenjo McCurtain (Script),

Starring: Takashi Kawaguchi, Yuki Morikawa, Shouta Hatori, Sayuri Hirayama, Takashi Ohkado, Nayu Kazetani,  

IMDB

Despite writing about indie films a lot, many of these names are new apart from Takashi Kawaguchi who appeared in Bad Poetry Tokyo (2017) so it’s exciting to see him taking the lead in this work. Indeed, Kenjo McCurtain has cast other actors from Bad Poetry Tokyo.

Synopsis: Masa (Takashi Kawaguchi) is a manga writer who has hit his late 30s and is still single. With news that his estranged father is on the verge of death after a stroke, Masa reflects on life and realises that, as an only son, and unmarried that his father may have expected more of him. Somehow this leads Masa to hire a rental actress, Kanako (Yuki Morikawa), to fool his father into thinking that he has a fiancée. It turns out that she has some emotional heartache. She once had hopes of being an actress but became disillusioned. Masa soon falls for her and starts to write an anonymous love letters which touch Kanako’s heart which she begins to reciprocate and this goes on while they continue to pretend to be a couple. Will they be able to make a genuine connection come to life?

The film is in post-production and money needs to be raised for grading, composing of the score, sound mix, creating a DCP and festival fees to make sure the film is seen by as many people as possible in the best possible condition. The campaign asked for $1,648 and has already hit this initial target and is on course to sail to $4,000 since there are stretch goals.

There are a number of tiers for people to look at when it comes to pledging money and rewards run from a “thank you” on the Facebook page to being given a credit as a co-producer. Physical gifts include a signed copy of the film and a T-shirt. There is also a chance to download two songs from the film’s soundtrack.

Now, these are uncertain times and filmmakers, festivals and distributors (and a myriad of other people) have had their legs cut out from under them by Coronavirus since many countries have closed cinemas and festivals are being cancelled or postponed so we won’t know how things will shake out but with some of the backer awards you be guaranteed to at least be able to watch the completed film and keep the project afloat during this medical crisis.

If nothing else, you are supporting a talented indie director make the leap from shorts to features. The film label, Shirokuma Films, has a number of his works free to watch – Automation (2017) and The Widow (2018) – on their YouTube channel, so check them out to help you decide.

The deadline for Make-Believers is May 05th and while it has already reached its goal, there’s still time to get involved and help support talented indie filmmakers.

Happy weekend, everyone!

I hope you are all feeling good and staying safe.

I’ve done a heck of a lot of procrastinating between writing reviews and not much in terms of film viewing outside of 70s and 80s American films. At least I am healthy. I hope you guys are all healthy too! Let’s keep it that way.

This week was used to post about my interview with the cinematographer-turned director Keisuke Imamura about his film Yan. I then posted about the Kickstarter for Make-believers, a musical set in Tokyo.

What was released in Japan on March 20th? At the time, I was in Tokyo.

Not Quite Dead Yet   

一度死んでみた　 「Ichido Shinde Mita」

Release Date: March 20th, 2020

Duration: 93 mins.

Directors: Shinji Hamasaki

Writers: Yoshimitsu Sawamoto (Script), 

Starring: Suzu Hirose, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Tae Kimura, Naoko Takenaka, Ryo Yoshizawa, Lily Franky, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Takeru Satoh, Elaiza Ikeda, Tokio Emoto,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Rebellious university student Nanase Nobata (Suzu Hirose) and her father Kei (Shinichi Tsutsumi) have a terrible relationship but he has things on his mind. There have been some thefts at the pharmaceutical company he runs so, in order to gt to the bottom of things, he drinks a drug that is supposed to make temporarily make him “die” and come back to life two days later. However, you guessed it, something goes wrong and Kei appears again as a ghost. Nanase tries to restore his life with help of Taku Matsuoka (Ryo Yoshizawa) who is one of Kei’s subordinates.

I Have Loved you for 30 Years, Yayoi   

弥生、三月　君を愛した30年　 「Yayoi, Sangatsu: Kimi o Ai Shita 30nen」

Release Date: March 20th, 2020

Duration: 110 mins.

Directors: Kazuhiko Yukawa

Writers: Kazuhiko Yukawa (Script), 

Starring: Haru, Ryo Narita, Hana Sugisaki, Kenshi Okada, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Hitomi Kuroki,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Kazuhiko Yukawa is a hit maker when it comes to dramas and now writes his second original film with this story that spans 30 years. It begins with  Yayoi Yuki (Haru) and Taro Yamada (Ryo Narita) meeting in 1986 as high school students. They fall in love but when their friend Sakura Watanabe (Hana Sugisaki) passes away from an illness, Yayoi and Taro put aside their feelings and move on with their lives. They get married, have children, experience disaster but never forget the love they feel for each other. 

Momi’s House   

もみの家　 「Momi no Ie」

Release Date: March 20th, 2020

Duration: 105 mins.

Directors: Yoshihiro Sakamoto

Writers: Ayako Kitagawa (Script), 

Starring: Sara Minami, Naoto Ogata, Misato Tanaka, Aoi Nakamura, Makiko Watanabe, Satoshi Nikaido, Seina Nakata, Miho Kanazawa,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Ayaka (Sara Minami) is a 16-year-old girl who has trouble at school. Things get so bad that she refuses to go. Her mother decides to send her to Momi’s House, a free school that teaches kids how to be self-reliant. The place is run by Yasutoshi (Naoto Ogata) and his wife Megumi (Misato Tanaka) and it is while staying there that Ayaka begins to change.

Mishima: The Last Debate   

三島由紀夫vs東大全共闘 50年目の真実　 「Mishima Yukio vs Tôdai zenkyôtô: 50 nenme no shinjitsu」

Release Date: March 20th, 2020

Duration: 108 mins.

Directors: Keisuke Toyoshima

Writers: N/A

Starring: Yukio Mishima, Osamu Kimura, Masahiko Akuta, Masahiro Higashide (Narrator)

Website IMDB

Synopsis from JFDB: During the time of mass movement rising in late 60’s all over the world, an internationally acclaimed author, poet, playwright, actor, film director and critic Yukio Mishima, took part in a heated discussion with 1,000 members of the student movement at the University of Tokyo in 1969, just a year before Mishima’s ritual suicide. The original master footage of his last debate with students has been found after 50 years from the filming.

Though they have different opinions to each other, Mishima addressed to and influenced the young audience with respect. Through the restored 4K footage and interviews of the people involved in the discussion, the people who knew Mishima at that time, journalists and authors of our times, the film pursues timeless thoughts of Mishima which appeals to the people even today.

For Rei     

レイのために「Rei no Tame ni」

Release Date: June 27th, 2020

Duration: 65 mins.

Director: Yukari Sakamoto

Writer: Yukari Sakamoto (Script),

Starring: An Ogawa, Amon Hirai, Seiji Kinoshita, Ryo Matsuura,

OAFF Website

Stories of the effects of family breakups on children are hardly a new thing for Japanese cinema with filmmakers like Hirokazu Koreeda and Shinji Somai using it in films such as I Wish (2011) and Moving (1993). Being unique in this field is hard but through nuanced filmmaking, director Yukari Sakamoto creates an intimate, challenging and original portrait of a modern young woman who faces difficult emotions lingering from the trauma of her parent’s split.

The titular Rei (An Ogawa) is our main character. She is a university student who lives a peaceful life with her boyfriend Nakamura (Amon Hirai) but beneath her quiet exterior is a girl struggling to become a woman. She is at the most turbulent period of life as she self-actualises a personality but before that can happen she faces the challenge of cauterising the wound of her parent’s divorce and her father’s absence. This has caused a rupture in her sense of self which has created a conflicted personality reticent to the point of being cut her off from others. Rei seeks to heal this by studying philosophy at university. By wrestling with this complicated subject she seeks to clarify and set to rest her emotions. However, as she studies, the desire to meet her absent father (Seiji Kinoshita), who she hasn’t seen since she was a little child, soon seems like more viable avenue of self-understanding.

What occurs with the meeting is a test of the boundaries of her womanhood that forces a self-confrontation with some raw and uncomfortable emotions. This is a tricky subject to pull off and make engaging but Sakamoto tells the story in a way that serves to give us Rei’s perspective as she digs into herself.

The film opens and is punctuated with Rei’s academic work, a treatise about perspective that serves to indicate the issues gnawing away at her and also serves to structure some of her emotional journey. Intercut with her bouts of intellectual wrestling are dreams, conversations, and memories about her father such as a picture drawn in crayon by herself when she was a child. These moments and relationship artefacts give context and emotional shading. Through making Rei work through her ideas and memories while meeting her father, Sakamoto allows the audience to understand the journey to independence and self-understanding Rei is undergoing.

Leading us along this path are other directorial choices that firmly root us in Rei’s perspective making this film a deep subjective analysis of one young woman’s attempts to parse her feelings and it is always cinematic. The camera sometimes adopts Rei’s point of view, the editing takes us to different physical and temporal locations, the audio track reflects what she hears. The most striking moment occurs with the use of the Erik Satie piece Gymnopedie No. 3 which indicates the fantasy of maturity she hopes to convey in the restaurant meeting with her father. It cuts out as he pulls her back to reality and lets her know his perspective doesn’t solely rest on her, much to her disappointment.

Being up close and personal with someone suggests warmth, but this film is cold and unsentimental in its depiction of Rei’s travails and this may prove difficult to enter for some audience members.

As a character, Rei feels trapped in passivity and being naturally introverted she lacks the ability to exhibit some sort of anger or grief that we may see in regular dramas. She is also unmoored from other people as she focusses on understanding herself. This is shown in her treatment of Nakamura who floats away and her inability to connect with classmates. This is to be expected. She is working through complicated emotions that require time and understanding and the direction connects us to her perspective and, at the end, the perspective of Nakamura. It all allows the audience to experience Rei’s feelings from different angles even if it isn’t palatable.

The film comes to a rest on a feeling of ambivalence that Rei feels for others as she comes to forge her own identity, a recognisable hallmark of maturing. The intelligent intercutting of perspectives shows her journey to understanding the gap between herself and others, how the passionate fantasy of her attempt to reconnect with her father and explore that relationship doesn’t match the quiet reality that their lives have moved on and she has outgrown the need for his presence and, possibly, her connection to others is thin as she has spent so much time trying to perceive herself. A sense of the confusion and freedom she experiences at the end is powerful as Rei finally manages to get over the family breakup and moves closer to maturing but it is a cold and lonely journey. In capturing such complicated feelings, the film is honest as it presents a modern girl grappling with contradictory emotions which are raw and pointedly felt because of smart design choices that make this film a singular experience.

My original review was published at VCinema on April 22nd

Yukari Sakamoto is an indie director who started making films while she was studying Philosophy at Sophia University. Her film Obake was part of MOOSIC LAB2014 and won the Best Actress and Musician awards. After that, she studied editing at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and Cinema where she majored in film and directed music videos. Since then, she has been the assistant producer on the the major feature Eating Women (2018) and directed part of the omnibus movie 21st Century Girl (2019).

Sakamoto’s latest work For Rei derives some of its details from the director’s background to create a deeply personal picture of a modern young woman navigating complicated feelings. The titular protagonist (An Ogawa) goes to philosophy class and lives with a kind boyfriend, but the trauma of her parent’s divorce has caused an ambivalence towards the people she should be closest to, and herself. This is a feeling that gnaws away at her over the course of the film which is shot in a subjective style to analyze this young woman’s attempts to understand herself.

Sakamoto sat down at the Osaka Asian Film Festival to talk about the making of the film, how she translated her background onto the screen and some of the design choices she made. The interview was conducted with the help of interpreter Keiko Matsushita and transcribed with the help of translator Takako Pocklington.

Thank you for agreeing to do the interview. I thought the film is visually interesting and beautiful. My first question is about yourself. Why did you want to become a filmmaker?

That is difficult to answer. I have liked films since I was at high school. I liked Takeshi Kitano. There was nobody else that watched such artistic films in my class. At that time, I might have found a niche for myself in films. So, I had hoped to make films in the future. However, I studied philosophy at university and got off track with filmmaking. But I thought my potential has been widened by having studied philosophy.

You mentioned Takeshi Kitano. Is he an influence?

Yes, his visuals. Visual, cut or color. I like some of the coldness that exude from the visuals in his films

Why did you want to make this story in particular?

This is based on my own story. I didn’t have any intention to make a film from my own experience at the time when it happened. However, as time went by, I was becoming increasingly eager to shoot this experience.

So you used your own experiences of studying philosophy as background for the character.

Yes, I used philosophy as a trigger to help Rei explore herself. I had been feeling claustrophobic in the academic world, so I wanted to shoot a scene that showed Rei when she couldn’t fit in with her class.

The philosophy mentioned at the very start of the film was about perspectives

That was my thesis

Oh, it’s based on your graduation thesis!? It is very complicated. How do you want the audience to react to the philosophy at the start?

I wanted philosophy to serve as the trigger for Rei’s journey. However, in the end, Rei realises that there is no answer to who she is in the philosophy class. What do philosophy and other studies give people? I wanted the audience to think about that.

Quite interesting. I had to rewind the film to write down some dialogue to think about it. In terms of writing the script, did you create backstories of the characters?

The actress [An Ogawa] is really good. She likes improvising as well. There was a script at first, but I gradually modified it and also inserted some new ideas whilst shooting and finally the main character was completed. She became a completely different character from what I had first created.

You wrote the dialogue but the dialogue changed during improvisation.

I had never done that kind of thing before, so I really enjoyed it.

Were there lots of rehearsals to get to that point?

I made much of the first take, so I did rehearse some scenes but not whole scenes.

Could you talk about casting of the actors?

As the main character is important, I chose an actress I really liked. I auditioned others and tried to cherish their own characteristics, so I did write for the actors for some parts in the film.

In terms of An Ogawa, why did you select her?

She has got something very different from what I have (in terms of characteristics). I tend to reflect myself on the protagonist and try to find someone similar to me. However, this time, I wanted to bring someone who is different from me into the story. For example, she (Ogawa) is very cheerful, but I am gloomy. I wanted to have someone who has different characteristics to act this role.

It’s a bit like the philosophy at the start of the film- different perspectives are used to create the final character. Why did you select Amon Hirai as the boyfriend and Seiji Kinoshita as the father?

I selected them by audition, but couldn’t make decisions until the last minute before shooting. In hindsight, I liked their faces including Ogawa-san. I maybe like their visual appearance.

There is interesting chemistry between father and daughter and you said there was lots of improvisation on the set. Did you allowed two to work with each other to create the scene?

No, I didn’t allow much. I wanted them not to get too close. I wanted to create the real tension between a father and a daughter who have lived apart. But even if I didn’t ask them for this, the actors themselves were aware of it. I think they always kept a good distance.

How did the actors regard your script？

They seemed to partly understand me and the script but also not understand. No one in the film had the same experience as I had, so they probably weren’t fully convinced (of their acting) and also they seemed to be a bit tense with me.

Maybe the tension aided the atmosphere in a positive sense. There was really good acting. But one of things stood out for me was visual sign design. Did you storyboard for the film?

I made a storyboard, but didn’t always follow it.

The camerawork, I thought it was subjective to Rei’s experiences. For example, Rei talks to her boyfriend but her vision is elsewhere just as the audio indicates she’s not listening to him. You shot only her mouth or feet in some scenes. Why did you use that kind of subjective cut?

One of the reasons is because I wanted the audience to have her perspective since this is Rei’s story. Perhaps some people have experienced their lover’s face being blurred while thinking about something else or daydreaming like Rei does. I poured these sensations into the beginning of the film and wanted the audience to find out about Rei who is a bit unique. I wanted the audience to gradually feel Rei’s emotions with their own bodies as a physical sensation.

It’s very strong which is easy to identify with the visuals. When Rei walks to her father in restaurant, the music that plays is Erik Satie. Are you a fan of his music? Why did you select that piece?

I like it. The instruction for the performance of the piece is, “slowly and solemnly”. I thought that this instruction suits this film.

Very melancholic. And then the music abruptly stops when she is talking to her father. What did you want to convey with that break in sound when the music stops?

The cut would pull you back to reality. Maybe sensuous. There is a part which I think about and a part I don’t think of at all.

Very interesting. There’s a lot to engage with which makes the film really worth watching. And Rei act put lipstick on. What did you want to signal with that?

That action is significant. Rei’s appearance is usually sloppy like how she wears hoodies. She dresses sloppily. But she dressed up for the first time when she was going to meet her father and she was a bit excited. It might sound strange but she has got a sort of admiration for him in romantic way. She wanted him to regard her as a mature woman.

Like creating a character.

The scene was supposed to be a bit more romantic but it ended up like that. It should be depicted as romantic relationship between father and daughter.

The editing becomes erratic towards the end of the film. How did you design the scenes?

I strongly wanted to insert the cut after I finished shooting the film. My original image was like…Rei walking in a forest and I inserted the sound of her “breathing” for the first cut and it lasted till the end. I was fully convinced of using this idea at the editing stage.

(To the interpreter) And I believe you had questions about clothes?

Interpreter: Yes, the costumes. Rei wore red when she went to see her dad and also went home. She wore bright yellow when she ran towards the station. And in the last scene, when her boyfriend came to see her, she wore blue. I’d like to ask if there is any intention with those colors?

Oh I’m delighted (that you noticed it). This is a story about a girl becoming an adult. I thought that red suits her and blue means she has become mature. However, I wanted to treasure her naiveness, so yellow indicates her immaturity.

What do you hope to convey in this film?

That’s a bit difficult to answer. It’s vast.

What sort of film do you want to make next?

I have been writing stories based on my own life, but in my previous works, the protagonist has always gone in a different direction from where I intended to, in positive ways though. So, I’d like to make a film about someone who is completely different from me.

Okay, now I can answer the previous question. It has been hard for me to talk about the topic of a broken family because for my generation- unlike previous generations – parents’ divorcing has become common, so talking about parents’ divorcing is kind of cliché. I thought I should write about a family in a different form. I have never felt comfortable with films or dramas depicting ordinary families. I also hope this film will deliver a different image of a girl from other films in the past.

If I have a final question… I am interested in what Rei’s boyfriend’s place in the story is.  

How did his character look to you?

He was supportive, I think he was very honest as well. Rei asked him “why you are with me”. His answer was very honest. Maybe he wasn’t totally in tune with her. He didn’t understand his girlfriend and try to soften his answer for her security

Exactly! Maybe that is from the actor’s own characteristics. The actor has a little weakness in his demeanor. He looks like a softy. He doesn’t have a typical male demeanor. Well, once again I’d like to talk about gaze. I managed to add another perception by inserting his presence in the film. How you would see Rei, how the audience would see Rei from his perception. You might look at Rei through his perception. He was basically present for the sake of Rei, but from the middle part of the film, he also started to change. His weakness has gradually turned to strength, which is what I was hoping to convey.

For Rei was shown at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 10.

My interview with Yukari Sakamoto was first published on VCinema on April 23rd.

Happy weekend, everyone.

I hope you are all still safe and well.

I went to work again this week and watched a whole lot of films like Twelve Monkeys, Blood on Satan’s Claw, Scream (1981), Wonder Boys. Also, lots of procrastination whilst working on transcripts. I hope you are being more productive than me!!!

I posted my review of For Rei and my interview with the director, Yukari Sakamoto.

What is released this weekend (plus one of the last films to be released in March)?

One Cut of the Dead! Remote Operation!

カメラを止めるな！リモート大作戦！　 「Kamera o tomeru na! Rimo-to dai sakusen!」

Release Date: May 01st, 2020

Duration: 26 mins.

Directors: Shinichiro Ueda

Writers: Shinichiro Ueda (Script), 

Starring: Takayuki Hamatsu, Donguri, Yuzuki Akiyama, Harumi Shuhama, Kazuaki Nagaya, Hiroshi Ichihara, Mao, Manabu Hosoi,

Website IMDB

Director Shinichiro Ueda and the cast of his film One Cut of the Dead reunited for a “remote movie” where everyone recorded themselves using smartphones and things like Zoom etc. It was made in April 2020 after the outbreak of Covid-19 in Japan became so serious a state of emergency was announced and people were asked to stay home. This film was produced in just 18 days and is now available to watch in its entirety on YouTube. 

Synopsis: Director Higurashi is asked by his producers Sasahara and Kosawa to make a drama. Fine. Except nobody can go outside due to Coronavirus. Everyone agrees to record a remote video production, in which all the staff and cast members make the drama without ever having to meet.

Seishin 0   

精神0　 「Seishin 0」

Release Date: May 02nd, 2020

Duration: 128 mins.

Director: Kazuhiro Soda

Writer: N/A

Starring: Masatomo Yamamoto, Yoshiko Yamamoto,

IMDB

Synopsis: Returning to the subject of his film Seishin, Kazuhiro Soda revisits Dr. Yamamoto, a pioneering psychiatrist who is about to give up his practice at the age of 82. We see that his wife, now with dementia, will be the last person he cares for after we see him say goodbye to his patients for the last time and close his practice in this film which documents everybody’s behaviour to paint a humanistic story of people accepting decline.

Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector   

PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス ３ FIRST INSPECTOR「PSYCHO-PASS Saikopasu 3 FIRST INSPECTOR」

Release Date: March 27th, 2020

Running Time: 68 mins.

Director: Naoyoshi Shiotani

Writer: Makoto Fukami, Ryo Yoshigami, Tow Ubukata, (Screenplay), Gen Urobuchi (Original Concept)

Starring: Yuichi Nakamura (Kei Mikhail Ignatov), Yuuki Kaji (Arata Shindo), Akio Ohtsuka (Tenma Todoroki), Ayane Sakura (Mika Shimotsuki)

Animation Production: Production I.G

ANN MAL Website

Synopsis: Arata Shindo and Kei Mikhail Ignatov are involved in a serious situation which puts them at odds with the Sibyl system as the movie caps the TV anime. 

Good-bye   

グッドバイ「Guddo Bai」

Release Date: June 27th, 2020

Duration: 66 mins.

Director: Aya Miyazaki

Writer: Aya Miyazaki (Script),

Starring: Mayuko Fukuda, Asako Kobayashi, Kohei Ikeue, Hiroe Igeta, Akihito Yoshiie,

OAFF

Aya Miyazaki got the filmmaking bug while studying at Waseda University. She took the video production course in her third year with one of her teachers being Hirokazu Kore-eda. His influence can be felt in her film Good-bye, specifically in how Miyazaki depicts the daily life of ordinary people in a minimalist style.

Sakura Ueno (Mayuko Fukuda) is a twenty-something who still lives with her mother (Asako Kobayashi) in their suburban home. Sakura’s father lives separately after a period spent raising Sakura by himself. Their routine is an easy and comfortable one that has the hallmarks of a teenager’s dynamic with a patient parent. It feels like they are in stasis, a state that goes unmentioned by the mother and is intuitively felt by the daughter. Seeking something she cannot quite articulate, Sakura ditches a comfortable office job and ends up working temporarily in a nursery school at a friend’s request. Despite the lack of experience, she proves to be a hit with the cute kids she meets, including Ai who she bonds with.

Ai is different from the other children. While everyone in the class eats homemade bento, Ai has store-bought sandwiches. Ai’s hair isn’t neat so the girl gets Sakura to do it. Ai’s father, Shindo (Kohei Ikeue), always comes to pick her up late after school. It seems Ai’s mother is absent. These points remind Sakura of her own background with Shindo resembling her father and so she begins to feel close to him and the girl. This prompts changes in her everyday behavior which, in turn, begins to cause a shift in the relationship Sakura has with her own parents.

While there are big changes, this is a quiet film where “action” consists of small moments and quiet character development, most of which is telegraphed via the actor’s body-language and little details in set decoration and props. Lead actress Fukuda does a lot of the heavy lifting. Initially, Sakura acts like a child  but gradually evolves over the film to access more complicated emotions such as motherly affection and her sensual side which is explored via her use of make-up and her interactions with Shindo. We are led to believe a sort of love develops between Shindo and Sakura from the gazes the two exchange whenever he picks Ai up, but this is an underdeveloped aspect of the film. While what Sakura sees in him fits into her psychological development as brought out in the script, what Shindo sees in her is isn’t telegraphed that well so some of his actions come off as unrealistic considering the circumstances. Perhaps this is a matter of perception and sensitivity on the part of the viewer. The rest of the film points to the clear maturation of Sakura and her relationship with her parents. It is handled in a naturalistic way, although it ends on a slightly creepy note that is sure to get viewers talking afterwards.

Reaching for realism, Miyazaki makes sure the mise-en-scène is resolutely normal. The film takes place in a suburban area too plain to warrant being shown in most movies and there is a stillness to events which are often shown in long takes. Although the film is well shot, Miyazaki’s choice to eschew visual flourishes enatils that it comes across as televisual. There are no visual flourishes or the sense it demands to be shown on the big screen. Perhaps this is to limit distractions and focus the audience’s attention on the performances and carefully chosen details. The one splash of eye-catching color is the cherry blossom outside the Ueno family home which links to Sakura’s character development with the tree being a perfect metaphor for the young woman. The seasons change, the cherry blossoms bloom just as Sakura changes and moves on with her life as she says goodbye to her childhood.

The film is at its liveliest in the nursery scenes which have a documentary feel. It’s an immediacy that comes from the fact that Miyazaki shot in an actual nursery using actual pupils who are as bouncy and energetic as they like. Having been acting since a young age, Fukuda ably portrays the different facets of Sakura’s character and has good chemistry with the actors portraying her parents, particularly Kobayashi as the sympathetic mother.

Oblique in its exploration of character motivations and minimalist in style, this is a film where actions are carefully chosen so they speak louder than words. At 63 minutes, the film knows exactly what it wants to say and not a moment is wasted as each scene and character action has a purpose. It demands that viewers be perceptive to minor details to make connections with every element shown on screen. Good-bye may not be overly eye-catching but it shows that Miyazaki has a good grasp of directing and a bright future ahead of her.

Good-bye was shown at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 9 and 14.

My review for this film was published on Mar 03rd at V-Cinema.