Adrift in Tokyo

Leading a lazy life, Fumiya has been a university student for 8 years and owes money to loan sharks. 

One day, a man named Fukuhara comes to collect the loan, which Fumiya cannot pay. So Fukuhara 

makes a proposition: He will cancel the debt as long as Fumiya agrees to walk with him across Tokyo 

to the police station of Kasumigaseki, where he intends to turn himself in for a crime he deeply regrets. 

Not having much choice, Fumiya accepts the deal.
 

Thus begins their journey which will lead them to various unusual
encounters, most of all with themselves. Based on the original novel by
Naoki Prize winner Yoshinaga Fujita comes a fascinating, humorous and wildly
clever film.

The film directed by Miki Satoshi cleverly blends the offbeat humour and wild premise together to 

create a wonderful somnabulist world in which these two men find themselves in.  Indebted to the 

Linklater double-bill of Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2005) - here is an opportunity to 

watch two fine actors showcase both their comedy and dramatic chops.

Jo Odagiri plays Fumiya as a loveable rogue who is slowly becoming a man-child, someone who 

cannot leave the happiness of college as he has found his place in life at that instance. Tomokazu 

Miura plays the older, debt collector - Fukuharu - with a bit of sterness yet you know from the 

outset that a heart of gold will slowly appear to us and Fumiya.

Whilst the scenes between the two leads are expertly handled and played, the people they 

meet on their long journey unfortunately do not receive the same tenderness from the director. 

Too many of the oddballs and characters are depicted as one-dimensional, this may not be 

helped by the premise as they are only fleeting glances of any one character, yet no cameo can 

be deemed memorable.

Like most things in life however, you will indelibly find something worthwhile on this journey, 

much like the protagonists do.

Adrift in Tokyo is out now on DVD from Third Window Films

Guilty of Romance

From the acclaimed director of Cold Fish, Sion Sono comes his final part of his supposed 'hate' trilogy Guilty of Romance (Koi No Tsumi) which garnered further acclaim at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Comprising of two storylines - a detective investigating the grisly murder of a lone woman; with that of Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka), a wife of a famous romantic novelist whose marriage is devoid of romance.  To bolster here confidence she takes up a job as a naked model faking sex for a camera; which ultimately leads to prostitution whilst maintaining the facade of a domesticated, monotonous housewife at home to her unbeknownst husband.

The plot can be considered a lift of Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour, but Sono makes clear to put on his own distinctive trademark on to the subject matter.  Sono's background before breaking into film was in poetry, and you can see from his characterisation that he does love his characters - giving them the opportunity for introspection, in terms of writing journals, giving them the opportunity to discover themselves even when they do not know what they might find.

His sharp detail for set design and lavish use of colour coupled with the dynamic use of classical music to evoke heightened sense of mood in the characters are all apparent - but on this occasion he does not forget that the film starts with a graphic act of violence.  Sono is perhaps making a statement of the parallel between the guilty acts of violence and romance, mentioning how the film follows damaged individuals, but still human beings who deserve love all the same.

In a still stilted society like Japan, that maintains a prudeness and shyness surrounding the sexual orientation of many of its population; it is nonetheless refreshing to see a director be bold enough in terms of following his convictions and the blending of genres (film noir, mystery, melodrama) that utilise his authorial motifs of vivid colour and graphic imagery to its maximum potential, and gaining career best performances from his leading ladies especially Kagurazaka, in the belle de jour role.

Guilty of Romance is release by Eureka! Entertainment on Friday 30th September on limited release in the UK

http://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/

Sawako Decides (Ishii Yuya, Japan, 2010)

Directing his first 35mm cinematic release, Ishii Yuya has constructed an offbeat and satirical minefield of a film that cleverly contrasts big city urban life with small time village life, in a script he also wrote.

In the lead as Kimura Sawako, he has Mitsushima Hikari, playing with wide-eyed abandonment and herself as unusual as the people she encounters.  Having left her home town after seeing her father, Tadao (Shiga Kotaro) kissing another woman, when she was near the end of teenage years; she fled for Tokyo and took in a job at a toy company that remains unfulfilling after a number of years. 

Kimura is also in a relationship with a deluded simpleton, Arai Kenichi (Endo Masashi) who thinks of himself as an enviromentalist and free-thinker, but who easily gives into temptation when running off with the villlage bike Tomomi (Suzuki Natsumi).  In a clever elliptical plot strand, Arai has a daughter, who he would like to take Kimura as her 'new' mother; but because of Arai's wandering libido the daughter suffers much like Kimura did with her father when she was younger.

Upon her return to the village, Tadao is in bed facing death from cirrhosis; Kimura takes over the day-to-day running of the clam packing business and employs unusual business practices to gain the trust and enthuse the workforce.  Tadao's sudden rise from death's door to berate Kimura's life and choices leads her to believe that in spite of his weaknesses she will end up marrying Arai not in part due to his attractiveness, but due to the kinship between herself and the daughter, Kayoko.

Along with the mediocre romance there are other narrative plotpoints helped by uniquely rounded background characters.  Unlike other Japanese (and other Far Eastern films) that sentimentalise the working classes; here you have a film with a moral centre and a clear display of female empowerment.

The film is satirical in its depiction of the big business and small business; in big business the boss is as much a child as the children he deems suitable to play with his toys; yet he remains firmly on his own in a bubble.  Whilst the small rural community fare better together working in unison for a common goal. 

As for Kimura, there is never any doubt that she is making all the decisions on her own, in spite of parental advice, it is clear she is enamoured with Arai and in spite of his mediocrity he is the best chance she has at a happy marriage.  And her empowerment bolsters the workforce gaining results in the profit margin and net profits.  The film may be subversive in its delight of depicting such offbeat characters, but the bottom line remains the net reward for the charactes ambitions.

After a slow start to the film that only takes off after she leaves the populated Tokyo, the film does create a bold vision of urban life in spite of some less than perfect cinematography, however, seek it out for a unique slice of Japanese life in the sticks.

Norwegian Wood DVD review

Starring Rinko Kikuchi and Kenichi Matsuyama as the lovelorn Naoko and Watanabe from Haruki Marukami's eponymous novel is a slow burner of a film about depressed youths with radical sensibilites but within a classical template of melodrama.  Whilst the film is brilliantly conceived and shot by a technically gifted cast and crew, providing a real shot in the arm for Japanese cinema, the problem with adapting a famous modern novel to the screen with a ready made audience in place, will ultimately leave fans of Marukami's novel wondering what went wrong.

Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) and Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi) cannot let go of the past and instead allow it to define themselves and their future. Their mutual passion is part of their malaise rather than an escape. Watanabe’s other love interest, Midori (Kiko Mizuhara), could be the answer to his problems but he’s so tied to the past he treats her interest with caution.

Lee Ping-bin brings a real sensuality to the films cinematography, however the blue tinge used for sex scenes and the frigidness of other scenes seem to distance the audience from proceedings.  Leaving the actors to wander through some scenes; one sex scene early on in the film serves no dramatic purpose other than to show them having sex.

A musical score supplied by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead deviates from swooning mood pieces to orchestral pieces with full blown guitars - the score works well as a means to explain the differing feelings of euphoria and anguish between these angst-riddled characters.

Performed with sterling diligence by the the young actors, the most notable is the performance from Rink Kikuchi as Naoko - heartbroken and vunerable.

In the end, the film whilst faithful to the book becomes a victim of its own stylisation and imagery - a matter of style over substance, but is that a problem of the adaptation or the fault of the source material; a book deemed unadaptable for the silver screen.  We have the adaptation, but die-hard fans may be unimpressed, whilst this is a shot in the arm for Japanese cinema in that they know they can make this sort of film now.

Norwegian Wood is released on DVD from Soda Pictures on 4th July 2011