First of all I’m terribly sorry for taking so long with these reviews. I really wasn’t in the mood to write anything and I’m still not, but I should get this written down, or I’ll forget too much of my impressions.
Kawa no Soko kara Konnichiwa (Sawako Decides, ??????????)
Japan 2009, Yuya Ishii, 112?
Sawako’s fifth year in Tokyo: Fifth job, fifth boyfriend and still no plans for the rest of her life. Locked in her apathy she somehow lives through her days, until her uncle calls to tell her that her father is terminally ill and wants her to come back. Hearing this, her boyfriend Kenichi, an untalented toy designer working at the same company who also wants her to become his daughter Kayoko’s new mother, decides for the three of them to move to Sawako’s hometown to take over the family business. Sawako and her patchwork family now have to face the village community that sees her as a traitor after running away five years ago with her then-boyfriend…
Yes, this is indeed the delightfully expressionless main girl from Ai no mukidashi. For the amazingly apathetic and aimless Sawako however, she is the perfect choice. While the average Asian actor is great at looking apathetic or disconnected she takes it to new levels, her “I guess it can’t be helped.” is the essence of apathy. On the other end, her eruption of decisiveness near the end is also done really well.
The movie is full of absurdly comical situations and while it is serious in its message it is incredibly entertaining at that with its many running gags and comical situations, like the unfaithful fisherman running away to Tokyo with the obese Tokyo student… Also, it succeeds in something quite unusual: While Sawako has serious flaws and really is the “lower-middle” character she states to be, she is easily the most likeable character (apart from Kyoko-chan maybe. :3 ), because of all the people she is the most true to herself and her change seems quite realistic in that she still retains many of her bad qualities at the end of the story, while coming to accept her limitations and really trying her best to live the best life possible for her with these faults.
In the end, the movie has a very simple message: Realise your limits, do your best within them and be proud of that. Surprisingly, this rather resigned-sounding message turns out to be really positive.
Caterpillar (??????)
Japan 2010, Kouji Wakamatsu, 85?
It is 1940 and Lieutenant Kurokawa comes back to his hometown, after earning three medals, while losing all of his extremities and becoming deaf for that. The whole family is shocked, especially his wife Shigeko, who is bullied into caring for him under the pretense of doing it “for the country” and to “serve as an example of a good soldier’s wife”. The story shows how deeply brainwashed people can become in times of war and how absurd the ensuing situations are.
Why, Kouji Wakamatsu, why? The movie starts with cheerful military music on a background of footage from the Japanese-Chinese war, which sets up a nice ironic mood. Then, we are presented with a group of Japanese soldiers burning and raping a Chinese village, which is quite brave for a Japanese movie, so we’re off to a good start. In the main part, the agony of our “War God” and his wife are shown with simple, yet very efficient and well-chosen pictures, with the sex scenes being intentionally repulsive and the general tone quite depressive and suffocating. Their feelings came out really well, although sometimes the rape flashbacks were a little obvious and unintentionally comic. Generally however, Kurokawa’s and Shigeko’s conflicts (with themselves and with each other) were fleshed out very well. Also, the absurdity of a community brainwashed by propaganda was depicted through the many rallies and simple things like fire drills which looked quite absurd as they only seemed to waste water.
So the first 80 minutes worked out great, then came the one thing that ruined the movie for me: Japanese self-pity. How can you state the number of people killed by the A-bombs without any commentary on why this happened? That’s like Germans saying: OMG, we lost so many people in the war, how could this happen? It’s not like you were a poor, peace-loving country invaded by evil Americans. You can debate whether the bombs were the best course of action, but you can not debate the fact that you started the war and that they came for a reason… And to top it off, he states that over a thousand war criminals were hanged “just for defending their country”. I don’t know how you define “defending” in this context, but I think conquering half of the Pacific and raping and killing millions of people does not count as “defending”.
If you want to watch this, go on. The Silver Bear for the main actress is fully deserved and it really is a great movie, just turn it off when you see the walls of text at the end…
En Ganske Snill Mann (A Somewhat Gentle Man)
Norway 2010, Hans Petter Moland, 90?
Ulrik is released from prison after spending twelve years for murder. He rents a room in a basement, his old gangster “friend” and boss welcomes him with a potted plant, he even finds work at a garage and learns that his son is doing well and tries to reconnect with him. Everyone around him says that he deserves a second chance and it looks like they mean it. But his old boss wants him to kill Kenny, the man who is supposed to be responsible for Ulriks time in prison and somehow it seems like he doesn’t really have Ulrik’s interest in mind. And all the people who seemingly wish him well and are supposed to give him a second chance somehow don’t live up to their own standards…
Aaaah, Scandinavian black humour comedy, how I love you! This movie es everything you would expect from its description and country of origin: it is packed with the usual absurdity and dead-pan humour we’re accustomed to and the execution of it is definitely one of the better ones in recent years. If you’re into this sort of movie, a definite recommendation!