February 27, 2022
From February 14 to 28, 2022, the Japan Foundation streamed a total of 20 Japanese films of various genres for free in 25 countries all over the world. (Apparently there was a first Japanese Film Festival Online was held across five continents and 20 countries from November 2020 to March 2021, but sadly I never knew about this.) The following are my thoughts about the featured films that I was able to watch:
Director: Shinobu Yaguchi
In the first thirty minutes or so of the film, we see a slew of activity that went on behind the scenes before a commercial flight takes off from the airport. When the plane takes flight and encounters various problems with natural, mechanical, and human causes, the crew both onboard and on the ground all cooperate to ensure the passengers welfare.
These people all have their own little side stories to tell, mostly hilarious. In the midst of the comedy, you cannot help but feel the tension and drama of the situations as well. This is indeed everything you are curious about the airline industry but were too afraid to ask or too afraid to even actually know. As I take my next flight, I will definitely think of this movie again. 8/10.
Director: Soushi Matsumoto
High school girl and film buff Barefoot (Marika Itô) and her close friends Kickboard (Yumi Kawai) and Blue Hawaii (Kirara Inori) were planning to create the perfect teenage samurai movie. When she saw Rintaro (Daichi Kaneko), she knew she had her lead actor. She gathered a motley group of classmates to be her crew to shoot her dream film.
This fun and charming teenage coming-of-age film will resonate with film buffs and filmmakers as they show how these passionate kids were creating their masterpiece with a phone and makeshift technicals. There was also an unexpected sci-fi twist which took the film into a totally different direction, and revealed a sentimental message at the end. 8/10.
Director: Haruki Kadokawa
As little girls, Mio and Noe were the very best friends. During a great flood, both became orphans and became separated from each other. 10 years later, Mio became a talented cook, while Noe became the high class courtesan Asahi. When Mio's egg custard dish became very famous, opportunity came for them to reunite, but Asahi's strict contract would not allow it.
The film may have been quite slow-paced and lengthy and the plot was rather predictable. It nevertheless had beautiful production design and costumes to bring us back to the charming past. The style of storytelling was heartwarming and elegant as executed by veteran director Haruki Kadokawa and acted by Honoka Matsumoto as Mio. 8/10.
Director: Hisashi Kimura
Dr. Shugo Hayami (Kentaro Sakaguchi) was asked to take over the night duty at a long-term care hospital. That night, a mad criminal wearing a clown's mask came in with a female hostage Hitomi Kawasaki (Mai Nagano) whom he had shot. Hospital director Tadokoro (Masanobu Takashima) and his two staff nurses were acting very weirdly.
Even if the film's premise was highly unrealistic, but the slow, deliberately-paced Japanese treatment made it a tense suspenseful affair as Dr. Hayami slowly figured out what disturbing activities went on in this hospital. Events took place within the duration of one night, but it explained in detail all that really happened. 6/10.
Director: Yukiko Sode
After a sudden dumping and disastrous dates, Hanako Haibara (Mugi Kadowaki) finally met the man of her dreams, Koichiro Aoki (Kengo Kora), scion of a wealthy political family. One night in an exclusive party, Hanako's violinist friend Itsuko (Shizuka Ishibashi) noticed that Koichiro was being very familiar with another girl named Miki (Kiko Mizuhara).
A quiet drama that contrasts the lifestyles of two women: Hanako was rich and privileged but trapped in the restrictions of her class. Miki was poor and had to work to survive, but free to do whatever she wanted. Beautiful cinematography, thoughtful screenplay, restrained acting by the entire cast make this a memorable and reflective film. 9/10.
Director: Ryota Nakano
For the past year, Futaba (Rie Miyazawa) has been raising her 16-year old daughter Azumi (Hana Sugisaki) by herself after her husband Kazuhiro (Joe Odagiri) disappeared on them. One day, she was diagnosed to have terminal pancreatic cancer, and only given a few months to live. She needed to get her family organized and ready for her eventual departure.
This is a family melodrama with maternal abandonment as a common theme. The Japanese can really tell these stories to be very engaging, without feeling too sentimental. Writer-director Ryota Nakano certainly made us love every character here. Overall, this film was a bonafide tear-jerker, yet ironically I still considered feel-good and cathartic. 9/10.
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Two men, a woodcutter and a priest, were seeking shelter in the ruins of an old city gate called Rashomon. There, they told another fellow the about the odd criminal case for which they were called as witnesses. A Samurai was found dead in the forest. His wife had been raped. The suspect was Tajomaru, a notorious bandit. But what really happened?
This is a classic film by master director Akira Kurosawa about Truth and its various versions as dictated by self-interest. The magnetic Toshiro Mifune played his crazy bandit character over-the-top, in contrast with Masayuri Mori who played his Samurai character with restraint. Machiko Kyō had a distinctive look and compelling style as the Samurai's wife. 8/10.
Director: Takashi Innami
Kazuo Yamagishi was the owner of the Taishoken ramen shop in Ikebukuro district in Tokyo, which usually had a two-hour long queue of loyal customers outside waiting for their turn to be served. This documentary followed his story from its humble beginning to his humble end.
It tells about his generosity to share his recipe with his apprentices who could open their own branches without paying any franchise fees. It recounts his health problems which led to him being sidelined in the hospital for six months, and its major impact on his store. 6/10.
Director: Takeshi Furusawa
Arata Kaizaki (Taishi Nakagawa) was a 27 year old lonely and jobless man. He was offered a chance to relive one year as a 17 year old senior high school in a medical experiment called ReLIFE. Back in his youth, he was able to get close to a select group of friends and even fall in love with the smartest girl in class Chizuru Hishiro (Yūna Taira).
The premise was interesting and the actors played it very cute. However, when you think more about it, how could this one year in high school actually change his outlook in life, especially since we don't know how his original high school days were? So after the experiment and you wake up the next day as an adult again, how can you readjust your life so fast? 6/10.
Director: Yuichiro Hirakawa
Ayumi ( Tôri Matsuzaka) Ayumi assisted his grandmother (Kirin Kiki) to be the Connector, a person who can arrange for the dead to meet the living. They help a man who did not tell his mother that she was dying; a girl who may have caused the death of her best friend; a man who could not move on after his fiancee disappeared seven years ago.
This was a solemn film dealing with unresolved issues and regrets felt when someone dies. However, trust the Japanese to be able to tackle such a morbid topic with such engaging plotting, with no unnecessary heavy melodramatics. This was another beautiful reflective Japanese film about life and death, told with sincerity and respect. 9/10.
Director: Miwa Nishikawa
Masao Minami was just released from prison after being incarcerated for 13 years for a murder for which he still believed he had been tried unfairly. He tried to fit in but with not much luck, owing to his past involvement with the Yakuza. Despite his volatile moods, he was able to make friends in his neighborhood who rooted for him to succeed.
It is the powerful, no holds barred performance by lead actor Kōji Yakusho as Masao Mikami that makes this a must-see film. Taiga Nakano as Ryūtarō Tsunoda, the TV director assigned to film his life story is also commendable. The topic of an ex-con trying to fit into society may be quite familiar, but again the unique Japanese cinematic perspective makes this one special. 7/10.
Director: Satoko Yokohama
Ito Soma (Ren Komai) is an awkward and painfully shy 16 year old student who decided that she wanted to have a part-time job working in a maid cafe, against the wishes of her strict professor father (Etsushi Toyokawa). Her kind co-workers Mr. Kudo (Ayumu Nakajima), single mom Sachiko (Mei Kurokawa) and anime artist Tomomi (Mayuu Yokota) all help her open up and come out of her thick shell.
This was quite a slow burn film with a very familiar coming of age story of a teenager rebelling against her elders. What set this apart from other films tackling the same topic was the unusual contrast of the modern Japanese phenomenon of maid cafes and the traditional musical instrument called the Shamisen, which Ito learned to play by ear from her grandmother (Yoko Nishikawa) and her late mother. 6/10.
Director: Yukiko Mishima
Mizushima and his young wife Rie opened a little cafe and inn on a scenic hillside beside Lake Toya, in the village of Tsukiura on Hokkaido island. The tasty breads that Mizushima baked and the sumptuous meals that Rie cooked helped fix the broken lives of the guests who stayed with them -- Kaori who was dumped by her boyfriend, Miku whose mom had left her and her dad behind, and Mr. Sakamoto who was about to lose his wife.
This was a heartwarming little film that tackled some pretty serious topics which can move you to tears, yet it can still make you smile. It can inspire you about never giving up on the ever-changing fortunes of life. The wistful photography of the food made them look and taste so good as everyone was partaking of them, outwardly celebrating the "compagnon" spirit and inwardly healing their damaged and hurting psyches. 8/10.
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