ポエトリーエンジェル 「Poetori- Enjeru」
Running Time: 95 mins.
Director: Toshimitsu Iizuka
Writer: Toshimitsu Iizuka (Screenplay),
Starring: Amane Okayama, Rena Takeda, Shingo Tsurumi, Jun Miho, Akihiro Kakuta, Maho Yamada, Tateto Serizawa, An Ogawa, Kento Yamazaki,
Here’s a movie pitch which may not stun you:
“Poetry Angel” is a film about a farmer and a schoolgirl in small-town Japan seeking a way to express themselves and unleash their creativity through the art of “Poetry Boxing.”
Everything up until “Poetry Boxing” sounds like business as usual since films about self-expression are common but newbie director/writer Toshimitsu Iizuka has cannily hitched his succinct and sweet human drama to the relatively unknown real-life sport of Poetry Boxing and strikes gold with results so entertaining you may want to step into the ring yourself.
If you have never heard of Poetry Boxing before, you’re not alone. Despite having been established in Japan since the late ‘90s with nationwide events and championships, it has yet to hit the mainstream. The name itself says it all and conjures up appropriate imagery. Imagine a poetry slam that takes place in a boxing ring but something more free-form as competitors are allowed to express themselves not just through poetry (haiku, tanka etc.) but through manga, music, mime, rapping and many more methods. The aim of the game is for poets to win over a crowd through three-minute performances full of passionate self-expression. It’s a sport that thrives on creativity and has attracted competitors from all levels of society from students to housewives, salarymen to retirees who find themselves benefiting from participating by becoming better able to communicate.
As you can probably guess from the previous paragraph, this provides fertile ground for the film to gather together a rich and diverse cast of characters and it is also a unique sport that has yet (as far as this writer knows) to be touched by other films anywhere else in the world.
Operating without much of a plot, the movie follows two likeable central protagonists, Tamaki, a 21-year-old who lives and works on his parent’s plum farm, and An, a high school girl who is a boxer in the traditional sense of being an athlete. He has dreams of being a writer of some sort but cannot really express himself while she is someone who struggles with a secret that prevents her from making friends. Hardly revelatory stuff (perhaps overly familiar) but through awkward encounters and stumbling steps towards self-expression, both find friendship and support in the form the newly established local Poetry Boxing club where a cast of down-to-earth but amusing and idiosyncratic poets add some more likeable characters to the story.
Audiences familiar with Japanese films will recognise the seasoned character actors who take on the roles. Doi Koji (Tateto Serizawa) is a rapper who uses a fusion of rap and poetry to keep it real. Chieko Itaya (Maho Yamada) is a quiet woman desperate to blossom into a colourful social butterfly and make friends, Jinjiro Nakajima (Atom Shimojo) is a pensioner with lots of free time who 
enjoys writing poetry. Their leader, Shuntaro Hayashii (Akihiro Kakuta), is a high-energy guy who works at city hall and deals with customer complaints. With completely different world views, different motivations for being in the club, and different personalities, they have a great chemistry together and they provide a lot of natural and amusing comedy of a deadpan character-driven variety that eschews being bizarre and hits all the right notes while demonstrating how Poetry Boxing helps them grow as individuals. Perhaps the biggest advertisement for the benefits of the sport being beneficial for people’s communication skills is the character development of Tamaki (Amane Okayama) and An (Rena Takeda).
The central protagonist’s character arcs are cleanly established and their development through poetry competitions is unforced and quite natural, easy to relate to and given a pleasingly satisfying end. The two flow through the ups and downs of their everyday lives without melodrama. Their existential angst and fear of social embarrassment, muddled communication and unfocussed yearning to find a place in society provides a suitable and easy to relate to impetus for them to participate in and learn from Poetry Boxing. It all feels touchingly real and while the drama is small-scale stuff, it still matters and feels fresh because of the setting and the winning performances of Amane Okayama and Rena Takeda who bring a conviction and naturalness to their performances.
Okayama’s fantastic facial expressions and comic reactions to events are utterly charming without the need to mug for the camera. He stays completely in character even when the camera isn’t focused on him as his physical movement 
is full of tics that tell of her nervousness and happiness, such as when he shakes his legs just before his performance and the beaming smile he has when things go right and the sense of joy he has when his creativity enables him understand what his true treasure in life is. Rena Takeda is equally wondrous despite not having as many lines of dialogue. Due to her secret, she is character defined by stillness and silence (and punching skills), but it is hard not to be sucked into the deep brown wells of her beautiful eyes or feel nervous at the sight of a tightly drawn face as she expresses anxieties over being asked out of her comfort zone. The longing gaze that she has when she sees others having fun and she wants to join in, the look of pleasure when she is invited in. It’s all potent stuff. When she does speak about what holds her back, audiences will be sure to shed a tear.
Director Toshimitsu Iizuka uses smart visual skills to capture all of this emotional drama while making the action in and out of the boxing ring fun to watch. The texture of the film is warm, sunny and inviting with wide shots placing the characters in their natural environment, a lovely little coastal town just discovering the joys of Poetry Boxing. Iizuka frames everything in a clean and concise manner and establishes a comfortable and sprightly rhythm in terms of editing which benefits the acting and gives the film a punchy pace. Lots of medium shots and close-ups show the characters facial expressions and body language which changes with every training montage and performance. These performances, coupled with the well-written characters, are a rich mine of comedy as we see their true personalities emerge and careful use of close-ups delivers the drama and satisfaction the actors are conveying. This may be Iizuka’s sophomore film but the confidence with which he delivers everything makes it feel like he has been in the movie industry for a lot longer.
Perhaps this is the first poetry boxing film. It certainly seems like an authentic look at the sport and its benefits and it features the Katsunori Kusunoki, the current organiser and president of the Japan Reading Boxing Association, and a video recording of a match. Whatever the case, it is an entertaining and highly amusing film.
If Poetry Boxing is still a mainly Japanese phenomenon it still has every chance of going global just like this film which has the chance to appeal to a wide audience thanks to its story and characters and direction and charming sunny setting which ensure it is a joy to watch.
Tateto Serizawa has cropped up in films such as “Isn’t Anyone Alive?” (2011) and “Fuku-chan of Fukufuku Flats” (2015) and Maho Yamada has been seen in many more such as “Rent-a-Cat,” “For Love’s Sake” (both 2012) and many more.
Here’s a review I wrote for V-Cinema. Mostly the same but with edits.
This film is part of Indie Forum at the Osaka Asian Film Festival.
