Words can not describe how sorry I am, so I’ll just get the remaining reviews out…
Kyouto Uzumasa Monogatari (Kyoto Story, ??????)
Japan 2010, Yoji Yamada/Tsutomu Abe, 90?
Kyouto-Uzumasa, a district formerly known for housing all of the great Japanese film studios: Kyouko, the dry-cleaner’s daughter works part-time in the library of the local Ritsumeikan University where she meets Enoki, a horribly nerdy but very passionate scholar of Chinese characters, visiting from Tokyo for research. Kouta, the tofu shop’s son, regularly goes to Osaka for auditions to debut as a comedian but after years of trying he still hasn’t succeeded, which may be because he just tries too hard. So while Kouta still tries for the impossible, straining the patience of everyone around him, Kyouko sees the passionate scholar fall for her…
I was at the World premiere, yay. Similarly to Yanaka Boshoku we have a movie about a city district again and we get that warm (sometimes a bit too stuffy) feeling of small Japanese town-communities that has faded away in most places. And in a similar way reality and fiction were mixed as the real history of two shop owners was used to develop the story of Kyouko and Kouta, their fictional children. Additionally the shop owners told, in little interviews, their story and in another layer of fiction-reality they talked about their fictional children and the actors who played said children were also “interviewed”. Kyoto Story is the next in a line of Japanese movies this year that question the way people in Japan live and openly oppose the pursuit of material goods and money, this time offering the cozy classical town-district culture with its small communities and local shopping streets as an alternative to the fast life of the big city. I guess Yamada was, despite just being the coordinator as he himself stated in the Q&A, in charge of overall Japaneseness™. The movie literally oozes it. Kyoto Story is a very closely-knit cooperation between the local Ritsumeikan University and Shochiku, the last remaining (and one of the oldest in Japan) big film studio in a district where the Japanese movie industry started. (Uzumasa-based Daiei, now closed, produced the first Japanese Oscar-winner “Rashomon” for example.) Yamada, the camera operator and the three main actors were the only professionals on set, everything else was done by the students. The director said that a great amount of preparation went into the movie and many residents were interviewed, so having students do this instead of professionals greatly helped in getting honest answers and stories from the people. The movie in itself while being nothing over the top told a heartwarming little love story in a quite mature and experienced way, I wonder how much influence Yamada really had. Ultimately, while it is focused on Uzumasa and will be of more interest to people interested in Japanese culture it has the quite universal message that you should try to see the happiness in front of you first, instead of chasing after the impossible. In this particular story that message is quite convincing.
I guess the Japaneseness must have been immensely interesting, but then again, after watching so many movies that don’t show much besides that, I wonder when we will reach the point at which we’ll find it boring. But I like the “see the happiness in front of you” message a lot, that makes me movie sounding extremely promising to me.
I have never heard of Shochiku or Daiei! (But of course I know Kadokawa Shoten, haha.) Shochiku seems to be a really huge studio indeed, with Ozu, Mizuguchi, Kurosawa, Naruse and literally every major Japanese director, huh?
Hmm, let me put it this way: while both the depiction of Uzumasa and the love story supported each other, they were quite independent. The story would have worked equally well in many different backgrounds, so if you are not into the Japaneseness of it all you could enjoy the movie as well. (Slightly less, because a part would be lost on you, of course.) And while these parts blended really well you can say that the love story was used as a carrier to present the district of Uzumasa through the back door.
I guess I’m more interested in the story of people rather than places I guess, especially when I expect the places to be cinematographically not so interesting. Every Berlinale adds so many movies I want to see! Ahhhh!