ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Japan

Drive My Car – A Story of Stories

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“If we hope to truly see another person, we have to start by looking within ourselves.”

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is built around the power of storytelling—imagined stories, dramatic stories, and personal stories. The film is based on short stories by Haruki Murakami, but also includes a good deal of Anton Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya, with which the characters in the film have emotional parallels. Drive My Car, Japan’s official submission for Best International Feature Film, has been shortlisted for Oscar consideration.

The film opens with actor Yasuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) listening to his wife Oto (Reika Kirishima) tell an evolving story in their post-coital revery, a story that he will tell her in the morning when she has forgotten it. Theirs is a complex relationship, but is clearly built on love for each other. Kafuku does multi-language productions of plays, Oto makes tapes that he uses to run lines. One day when he returns home unexpectedly, he discovers a secret. It is one that he seems to be able to live with, but when Oto dies suddenly, it leaves that part of his life unresolved.

The film moves ahead two years. Kafuku travels to Hiroshima to direct Uncle Vanya. When he arrives, he discovers that because of legal reasons, he must have a driver. A young woman, Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), is assigned to him. He is reluctant to entrust her with is beloved bright red Saab 900, but gives in. He has an hour commute each day (at his request), he continues to use the tapes of his wife running lines for the play. Only occasionally do Kafuku and Watari interact at the beginning, but they slowly get to know one another and tell each other bits of their stories.

Much of the film is set in the rehearsals for the play, in which Kafuku has cast a young actor to play Vanya—an actor he suspects had an affair with Oto. His process for doing plays in several languages at once is challenging for the cast, but we watch as the play begins to come together.

Some may be put off by the three hour running time of the film, but whereas many films fill up time with special effects and amazing stunts, this is time that is filled with story. This is a film that peals the layers of story back like an onion. As Kafuku and Watari spend the hours in the car, they open themselves to speak of their traumas and sense of guilt and pain. Finally, they must undertake a road trip that will allow them each to see that life goes on in spite of suffering and sorrow. This is, in fact, the same conclusion that Uncle Vanya comes to. (And when we see the troupe perform the final scene from the play on stage, it is captivating and powerful in the way it is done.)

The sharing of stories, not just in the car, but among actors during and after rehearsals, is not small talk. They are the characters “looking within”, and in so doing discovering their own pain and the pain of others. That allows them to find healing.

It is interesting that filming had to be shut down for eight months. There is a coda to the film in which we see Watari in a supermarket in which everyone is masked. That scene continues to give us an ambiguous vision of how this story ends, but by setting that scene in the midst of the pandemic brings the film’s stories into our story. We too may find ourselves dealing with grief, pain, or guilt. But we too have life to live.

Drive My Car is in select theaters.

Photos courtesy of Janus Films.

Monster Mondays: Godzilla (1954)

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Note from the Editor: A longtime friend to SF Radio, Ben Dower knows a thing or two about monster movies. Starting this week, Ben will be penning a weekly review of classic monster mayhem and their historical importance.

By Ben Dower

As World War II approached its end, Japanese cities were heavily bombed by the United States.  In one night in March 1945, Tokyo was devastated in a brutal firebombing raid that killed over 90,000 people, mostly civilians.  On August 6th, 1945, the United States dropped the first nuclear bomb used in warfare on the city of Hiroshima, followed three days later by the second on Nagasaki.  

During the Occupation of Japan in the years following the war, occupation forces exorcised heavy censorship of the media to prevent criticism of the Allies.  When the Occupation of Japan ended in 1952, there was much more freedom for the media to begin discussing the topics that had been off-limits, including the atomic bombings.

In March 1954, the United States conducted the Castle Bravo H-bomb test on Bikini Atoll.  The test caused highly radioactive fallout to rain down on nearby inhabited islands, as well as the Japanese fishing vessel Daigo Fukuryū Maru.

It is from these events that Godzilla was born.  

While most American giant monster movies featured a beast that goes on a rampage before it’s eventually killed (ie.  King Kong or The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms), Godzilla took this formula and infused it with metaphor. The film starts with a fishing vessel plowing along the ocean, its crew relaxing on the deck in the sun.  Suddenly there is a flash of light, a roar, and the ship bursts into flames.  This is an obvious reference to the Daigo Fukuryū Maru, an event that had occurred just months prior and was fresh in the minds of the audience.

The film builds slowly, revealing first Godzilla’s leg as he tramples a village on Odo Island.  Paleontologist Dr. Kyohei Yamane (played by Takashi Shimura, an Akira Kurosawa staple) heads to Odo Island and it is discovered Godzilla’s footprints are radioactive with material consistent with a hydrogen bomb.  During the expedition to Odo Island, Godzilla appears on land again, his head rising over a hill and roaring menacingly at our protagonists in an incredible composite shot.

The Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF), which had only been founded in July of that year, drops depth charges on Godzilla and it is thought the monster is defeated.  As people celebrate Godzilla’s demise, the monster surfaces very much alive inside Tokyo Bay.

Godzilla soon comes ashore in Tokyo, trampling through a train station and picking up a train car in his mouth.  This sequence is the big reveal, featuring the first full shots of the monster.  It is an amazing special effects sequence, with the man-in-suit Godzilla composited behind real shots of Tokyo, the black-and-white film helping to conceal any imperfections.  The result is truly haunting as Godzilla moves like a spectre through the city, looming over the buildings and people below.  After a short rampage, Godzilla heads back into Tokyo Bay and disappears under the water.

The government quickly mobilizes the JSDF and constructs a barrier of high-tension wires along the shore to prevent Godzilla from entering the city again.  Civilians are evacuated, with scenes of soldiers loading children onto trucks and people carrying everything they can as they flee.  These scenes are very reminiscent of the war.

Sure enough, Godzilla rises from the sea again and heads to Tokyo.  He easily tears through the electrified barrier, clawing through the wires and melting the towers with his atomic breath.  Godzilla proceeds to blast away the JSDF and much of Tokyo, moving through the city silhouetted against the flames like a demon in hell.

It is in this rampage through Tokyo that we get our clearest wartime imagery.  The flames towering over Tokyo’s landmarks are no doubt meant to evoke the firebombing of March 1945.  Godzilla’s atomic breath, which is portrayed like a cloud fired out of his mouth, is an effort to visualize radiation on screen, vaporizing people like the atomic bombs did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and leaving others in the vicinity with radiation sickness.  Added to this are the planes, tanks, cannons, and rescue forces, all of which would remind viewers of the war.

Watching the devastation on his TV at home is the young scientist Dr. Serizawa (played by Akihiko Hirata).  Dr. Serizawa has been conducting research on oxygen and has discovered a way to create a new super weapon, which he calls the Oxygen Destroyer.  Dr. Serizawa ultimately must make a horrible decision: reveal the weapon to kill Godzilla and risk the nations of the world adding it to their arsenals, or keep his weapon a secret and let Godzilla continue his reign of death.

Godzilla was released in Japan on November 3, 1954 and was an immediate hit.  The North American distribution rights were sold in 1955 and the film was heavily re-edited, toning down some of the more explicit anti-nuclear themes and inserting scenes of Raymond Burr as an American reporter witnessing the events as they unfold.  While generally considered inferior to the original version, the editing to insert Raymond Burr into the action is incredibly well done.  This version was released to North American theatres in 1956 as Godzilla, King of the Monsters! and was the only way the first Godzilla film was distributed in North America for 50 years.  In 2004, the original Japanese version got a limited theatrical release in North America by Rialto Pictures.  

Godzilla and Godzilla, King of the Monsters! are currently available from The Criterion Collection, both as a stand alone DVD or Blu-ray and as part of their Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 Blu-ray set featuring the first 15 Godzilla movies.

The Summit of the Gods – An existential “why?”

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Why do people (now a few thousand) climb Mt. Everest? George Mallory (who may or may not have been the first to reach the summit) famously answered the question by saying, “Because it’s there.” But there has to be more to it than that. Mountaineering is a dangerous, often lethal, activity. In The Summit of the Gods, directed by Patrick Imbert, the question of why someone may focus on a near impossible task is central.

This beautifully animated film is based on a manga series by Jirô Taniguchi, which was in turn based on a novel by Baku Yamemakura. When the manga series reached Europe many years after their original publication, they came to the attention of a French producer who started the process of making this film. (Which explains why the film features Japanese characters speaking French.) The animation creates a world of majestic and awe-inspiring mountains, as well as tense, exciting climbing sequences.

The story starts with Fukamachi Makoto, a photojournalist who has gone to Everest to get shots of Japanese climbers, when their attempt fails, he wonders what the point is off all this. But in a Kathmandu bar, he sees a camera that is reputed to have belonged to George Mallory. He later sees Habu Jôji, a climber who no one has heard from for years, with the camera. The idea that it is Mallory’s camera and could answer the question if he and his climbing partners had reached the summit becomes an obsession for Fukamachi, who begins to seek out Habu.

As the story progresses, it shifts from time to time to give us more information on Habu and the accidents that have shaped his view of climbing. He is very aware of the dangers of any mountain, but especially Everest. Fukamachi finds him as he’s preparing a solo ascent of the Southwest face, a particularly difficult climb. Fukamachi sets up at the basecamp and awaits Habu, planning on documenting his ascent.

Both Habu and Fukamachi are obsessed: Habu with doing something no one has done, and Fukamachi with finding Mallory’s camera. We might think of Fukamachi as something of Ishmael to Habu’s Ahab. The question of why they are doing this is always in the background. But it also becomes explicit. There is a point where each man asks the other, why they are there. Another question is why the summit matters more than life itself.

Each man has his own reasons, but it brings them both to the same place. They have each chosen a focus that they hope will heal an existential angst within them. So they come to believe that whether they survive or not is of less importance that what they are doing. They are committing their lives (and possibly their deaths) to their obsessions. The amazing vistas the animation creates serve to add even more depth to these philosophical ponderings.

The Summit of the Gods can be seen in select theaters and on Netflix.

Photos courtesy of Netflix.

A Few of International Feature Oscar Hopefuls

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Every country (except the U.S.) can submit one film for Oscar consideration for Best International Feature Film. How a country makes that choice varies. There are certain criteria, including how much English is allowed. The Academy has a process through which the films are reviewed eventually ending up with the five films nominated for the award. In early February the short list (this year it will include 15 films) will be announced.

I have had a chance to see some of the films submitted (either at festivals or through screeners), but still it is only about 1/6 of the list of films hoping for recognition. Here is a look at the ones I’ve seen, with links to our reviews if available.

Denmark: Another Round. Directed by Thomas Vinterberg. A group of friends test a hypothesis that keeping a constant 0.05% blood alcohol level is the key to happiness. Vinterberg is a masterful director and has made this a film of humor and pathos. Screenfish review of Another Round. Since it made my year end top films list, I would obviously be happy for this to get a nomination. (On the Shortlist of possible nominees.)

France: Two of Us tells the story of Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier), two retired women who have been romantically involved for decades. Though they spend their daily lives together, their relationship has remained largely in secret over that time, especially to Madeleine’s family. However, when Madeleine suddenly falls ill, their relationship is turned upside down and Nina must find a way to hide their secret while also caring for the woman that she loves. Directed by Fillipo Meneghetti, Two of Us is a powerful and heartbreaking piece that puts the wildness of love on full display. Well-written and earnestly performed, Two of Us is a simple film about what it means to care for someone so deeply that you’ll do anything to support them in their time of need. 

Hong Kong: Better Days. Directed by Derek Tsang. Chen Nian is trying to prepare for a college entrance exam. She and others face bullying at the school. After an encounter with Xiao Bei, a young street thug, the boy becomes Chen Nian’s protector. Can Chen Nian escape the violence around her, or will she become part of the violence? Well made film, but not as strong as some others. (On the Shortlist of possible nominees.)

India: Jallikattu. Directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery. When a buffalo escapes from the butcher, the whole village goes into action to try to recapture it before it destroys everything. As the day moves into night, the situation devolves to the point we aren’t sure if the animal is the real beast or the people. Interestingly, the film is bookended with title cards with verses from Revelation. (20: 1-3 at the beginning, 19:17-18 at the end). It’s a dark comedy with some very interesting camera and editing work.

Ivory Coast: Night of the Kings. Directed by Philippe Lacôte. Set in an African prison, a new prisoner is named by the convict boss as the new “Roman”, storyteller. On the night of the red moon, the Roman must tell a story that takes all night. There is a sort of Greek chorus that acts out parts of the story. Meanwhile, the boss is near death and a rival faction is hoping to seize power. It has a bit of magical realism. Interesting, but not compelling storytelling. (On the Shortlist of possible nominees.)

Japan: True Mothers. Directed by Naomi Kawase. Six years after a couple adopt a baby boy, they get a phone call from a woman claiming to be his birth mother and wants him back—or money. The film spends a great deal of time on each woman’s story before we get to the conflict and resolution. It may be a little overlong, but still a worthy story. Screenfish review of True Mothers.

Kazakhstan:The Crying Steppe. Directed by Marina Kunarova. The story of the Great Famine that was the result of Soviet policies during the 1920s and 1930s. Although there are some wonderful landscapes, the story is dismal. This is very much a Kazak story that evokes national pride and animosity toward the Soviet system. I would be very surprised to see this make it to the shortlist, let alone a nomination.

Latvia: Blizzard of Souls. Directed by Dzintars Dreiberge. The story of a young Latvian (Latvia was then part of the Russian Empire) who goes off to fight in World War I.  The innocence of youth gives way to the brutality of war. We see the terrible suffering and loss. It also runs through the early stages of Communist Revolution, and the eventual independence of Latvia. It is a very patriotic film. Screenfish review of Blizzard of Souls.

Mexico: I’m No Longer Here. Directed by Fernando Frías de la Parra. Ulises, the leader of Los Terkos , a cambia dance crew in Monterrey, Mexico, must flee to the US after witnessing a drive-by shooting. In Queens, he is lost. He doesn’t know the language. He has no connection to his culture. He’s befriended by a young Asian girl who lets him squat on her grandfather’s roof. His life had been completely centered in cambia, but now there is nothing to give him direction or purpose. To be so alone in New York City is just part of the sorrow we watch in this tragic tale. (On the Shortlist of possible nominees.)

North Macedonia: Willow. Directed by Milcho Manchevski. This is a trio of stories that focus on motherhood. All three stories focus on women who had trouble conceiving. The first, set in medieval times, is a peasant woman who goes to a crone for help. When, after the child comes, the couple isn’t willing to pay the high price, tragedy waits. The second couple (in modern times) finally conceive twins, but again tragedy will bring darkness into the marriage. The third story focuses on the sister of the woman in the second story, who adopted a child after years of trying to conceive. But there may be something wrong with the child. Very well done chance to think about love, motherhood, and striving for happiness.

Peru: Song Without a Name. Directed by Melina León. A young pregnant indigenous woman learns of a clinic in the city that will provide free maternity services. When she gives birth, however, they steal her baby for foreign adoption. In her grief she works with a journalist to seek the government’s help. The film has some wonderful scenes of the indigenous cultural arts. A very moving story of people who are treated as invisible and worthless by society. A very good film. Screenfish review of Song Without a Name.

Portugal: Vitalina Verela. Directed by Pedro Costa. A very measured, slow-moving film that has extraordinary s cinematography of light and shadow and the use of a static camera. A Cape Verdean woman whose husband left her 25 years earlier to work in Portugal, arrives in Lisbon to discover he was buried three days before. She learns bits of his life as she moves around the immigrant slum. The life they had in Cape Verde seems much preferable to what she finds here. A faithless priest reflects on the darkness of life here.

Romania: Collective. Directed by Alexander Nanau. Documentary about the aftermath of a fire at a Bucharest nightclub. Many of the victims died of infections they got in the hospital. Investigative journalist began to trace the governmental corruption. An amazing part of the film is that the new health minister gave the filmmaker total access. This is a film about the importance of the press to confront governmental lies. Very good doc. It would certainly be worth consideration in both this category and in the documentary category. Screenfish review of Collective. (On the Shortlist of possible nominees.)

Slovakia: The Auschwitz Report. Directed by Peter Bebjak. The story of two prisoners who seek to escape and bring information of what is going on to the outside world. The first half of the film takes place in the concentration camp, where following their escape, the other prisoners suffer increasing punishment. The second half is their journey to get across the border and report. But even then, their reports of the horrors are met with deep scepticism.

Spain: The Endless Trench. Directed by Jon Garaño, Aitor Arregi, and Jose Mari Goenaga. Based on true events, this is the story of a man who, with his wife’s help, hides in his house for over 30 years. During the Spanish Civil War, he escaped capture by the Nationalists and found his way home where he first hid in a hole under a cabinet, and later in a narrow room created by a false wall. Even after the war, through World War II and beyond, he is considered a war criminal until an amnesty is declared in 1969. The stresses of the confinement play out in their lives. They live in constant fear, even when it is time to come out of hiding. An excellently done film about the confines we often must deal with in our lives. It’s easy to extrapolate to the COVID-19 world.

Sudan: You Will Die at Twenty. Directed by Amjad Abu Alata. When a local holy man prophesizes that a child will die when he turns twenty, he begins with a sheltered life, but even after he begins to learn the Quran, his life is geared around his impending death. The entire village believes this is God’s will—except for a photographer who has recently returned from traveling the world. Can the boy find a way to live fully? Screenfish review of You Will Die at Twenty.

Switzerland: My Little Sister. Directed by Stéphanie Chuat and Véronica Reymond. A woman tries to give her actor twin brother one more time on stage before he dies. Her efforts could well cost her a very high price. The film is really about the bond that the siblings share. Screenfish review of My Little Sister.

True Mothers – Conflicting Claims

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What does it mean to be a mother?  Japan’s submission for Best International Feature Film, True Mothers, creates a very human picture of motherhood, but it also is multifaceted. It is the story of two mothers of a child. They have two very different stories, but can they find a way to bring them together?

Satoko has always wanted to be a mother, but her husband Kiyokazu is infertile. After a long process of fertility treatments, they decide to adopt a child whom they name Asato. Satoko quits her job to be a full-time stay at home mother. Then one day she gets a phone call. The caller claims to the son’s mother and wants him back—or money to keep the secret.

The film then transitions to the story of Hikari, a fourteen year old junior high student. We watch as she begins dating a boy, and in time becomes pregnant. Her family sends her to an island near Hiroshima where a woman runs Baby Baton, a place for women who are willing to give up their babies for adoption. Hikari experiences new people and ideas. After the birth, when she returns home, she is angry and resentful for being forced to give up her child.

Six years later, the two mothers meet, but not without conflict. Satoko and her husband met Hikari briefly when they adopted the child, but she looks very different now. Is it really the same person? Her attempts at blackmail are meaningless because everyone already knows their son is adopted. So what can Hikari really want?

Is it fair to assume that only one of these women is really Asato’s mother? The laws of adoption clearly recognize Satoko as the boy’s mother. For the last six years she has been the one caring for him and dealing with problems at school. But what of Hikari’s bond with the child she brought into the world? Is that irrelevant? Each has an identity of motherhood for the child.

The way the story is told giving us extended versions, first of Satoko’s story, then of Hikari’s, there is a dialectic—thesis/antithesis—structure. Which leads us to expect that there will be some form of a synthesis to create a new understanding.

The story eventually comes down to the way the two women understand motherhood and act out what it means to be mothering. Satoko realizes that she has a bond with Hikari that cannot be ignored—for her well-being, Asato’s well-being, or Hikari’s well-being. It will only be through some sort of nurturing of relationship that all will find fulfillment.

True Mothers is available via virtual cinema through local theaters.

Photos courtesy of Film Movement.

Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams

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We may think of baseball as the American Pastime, but we are not the only place that loves the game. Baseball is also a very popular sport in Japan, and has been for over 100 years. Each year, there is a nationwide high school tournament leading up to crowning a champion at Koshien Stadium near Kobe. It has a nationwide following that surpasses professional baseball. Each year thousands of high school baseball teams begin the single elimination tournament in their prefectures. Only one team from each prefecture goes on to Koshien. Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams, from Ema Ryan Yamazaki, shows us a team’s quest to achieve that challenging goal.

The film focuses on Yokohama Hayato High School. The team is coached by Mizutani, who has made one trip to Koshien in his thirty year career. He is often stern with his players, pushing them as they train for the tournament. The school has 129 students who are taking part in the baseball program, but only twenty can make the summer team. We get to know a few of them, but most of the focus in on Mizutani.

The training regimen for these high school baseball players is grueling. We watch as they run in unison around the field. It looks like soldiers in boot camp. The seniors have been doing this for three years. Freshmen are having a hard time learning to stay together, and an upperclassman scolds them. They have to work as a team.

But it is not only about baseball skills and ability. In a meeting with the new freshmen, a senior mentor discusses the philosophy of the program. The number one goal is “to grow as humans”. That means being attentive to all around you. It means caring for the world. (One of the things we note is that these players pick up trash anywhere they go.) They drill on the proper way to speak. The senior mentor criticizes the way some of the players say “good morning” and “thank you”.

We also meet Sasaki, the coach of Hanamaki Higashi school. Sasaki was an assistant coach under Mizutani, whom he considers a mentor. Sasaki, however, has gone on to make it to Koshien several times. He has also coached players who have made it to American baseball, such as Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Yusei Kikuchi of the Mariners. Sasaki likens his coaching to growing bonsai plants—how they grow to fit the size of container, and the way wires are needed to form the shape, but will injure the plant if left too long. When Mizutani’s son becomes a freshman, Mizutani thinks it would be best if his son not play for him, so he is sent far from home to play for Sasaki.

But this is not just about baseball. In some ways, this serves as a chance to look at some of the cultural norms of Japanese society. The Japanese work ethic that evolved after World War II, created a strong economy, but perhaps globalization is bringing changes. Mizutani’s parents built their own company, but his mother doesn’t understand why he does not return to work in it, especially after the death of his father. That work ethic also has an effect on family life. Mizutani is rarely home. In fact it is at a practice game between Hayato and Higashu that he first sees his son play baseball (and for another team!).

That work ethic is also seen in the way the players push themselves. In a clip from a previous Koshien tournament, the TV announcers mention that the pitcher in the game threw 253 pitches yesterday. An American coach that allowed a player to through 250 pitches in a week would probably be fired for abuse. Yusei Kikuchi recalls trying to continue pitching in the tournament with a broken rib. It would not be acceptable to say he couldn’t go on.

When there is only one champion out of thousands, it means disappointment for most. And we see that disappointment play out in this film. It is what is said after that disappointment that allows us to see the way that sports can build character.

Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams is available on Virtual Cinema through local arthouses.

Photos courtesy of First Run Features.

Sunday at AFIFest2020

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As AFIFest Presented by Audi continues to unfold, each day new films are being opened for viewing. During normal years, most films would play a couple times during the week. That challenge was to find the day and time that you could fit things. This year, I get to pick and choose the order I see films in each day. The lack of a rigid schedule is a plus for having a virtual festival. On the negative side, you don’t get to hear people saying how good something was so you can add it to your list to see.

Writen and directed by David Carbonier and Justin Powell, The Boy Behind the Door is a taut thriller. It is the kind of film that might, in normal years, be presented in a selections of Midnight films. Bobby and Kevin are best friends and dream of growing up to head off to someplace different from their home. They dream of California. But then the two boys are kidnapped. Bobby manages to escape, but he cannot leave Kevin behind. He is soon playing a cat-and-mouse game with the kidnappers as he tries to locate and free his friend. The film maintains a constant tension, with a few moments that make you jump. There is a fair bit of blood and violence, which for some people would be a plus, for others a turn-off. Bobby is the more resourceful of the boys, but he must also rely on Kevin for them to succeed. When one needs the other, these friends will do whatever is needed to save the other.

Japan’s Under the Open Sky, directed by Miwa Nishikawa, tells us of a man who, after spending the last 13 years in prison, is trying to adjust to the outside world. Masao Mikami has served his sentence for murder and returns to society. He vows that this time he will go straight. A lawyer serves as his sponsor and helps him get set up with welfare and a place to live. Mikami wants to make his own way, but there are challenges for an ex-con trying to find work. He is contacted by Tsunoda, a TV director, who is interested in helping him find his mother, who abandoned him as a child. The producer of the story wants something more interesting—using his gangster background to set him up to fail. Mikami was known as a brawler and has trouble keeping his temper in check. But he also manages to collect a group of people who care about him and help him find the chance of success in the outside world.

The dangers of recidivism as common for those who are released from prison. If they do not have access to jobs and help, the life of crime seems like an obvious choice. Tsunoda wants to write about Mikami as “an ordinary man” The world may not pay much attention to ordinary people, but for Mikami to fit into the role might actually be extraordinary.

(L-R) Paul Bettany as “Frank,” Sophia Lillis as “Beth,” and Peter Macdissi as “Wally” in UNCLE FRANK Photo: Brownie Harris/Amazon Studios

Family can be the source of pain or healing—and often both. In Allan Ball’s Uncle Frank, Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis) has grown up in rural South Carolina, where she doesn’t really feel like she fits in. On the rare occasions that her Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) visits from New York City, she is drawn to how different he is from her family. He counsels her to be who she wants to be, not who others tell her she is. She heads to New York for college, and to get to know Frank better. Crashing a party at Frank’s home, she discovers that he is gay. His partner Walid (Peter Macdissi) is the embodiment of kindness.

When Frank’s father dies suddenly, Frank and Beth drive together to the funeral. Walid follows separately because Frank doesn’t want the family to know about him. The three of them will have to face many of the pains of Frank’s past, especially after he is involuntarily outed. Those demons include a sense of guilt about who he is, which has led him to live with his self-loathing all these years. The film is set in 1973 when such closeting was even more prevalent than it is now. Frank’s advice to Beth to be who she wants to be was much harder for him to live out himself.

A Girl Missing – Spite Hurts

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When a young woman’s life falls apart through a series of events around her, she’s left with nothing—except a plan, not for restoration, but revenge. But we learn that revenge may be just as unsatisfying as the life she has been left with. Kôji Fukada’s A Girl Missing relates such a story as it alternates between before and after timelines.

The film begins with the demarcation of the before and after—Ichiko (Mariko Tsutsui) goes into a salon to get her hair cut and colored. (The hairstyle becomes a visual marker as to which storyline we are in.) Ichiko has asked for a particular stylist, even though she’s not been to the salon before. We learned she’s recently lost her job and is looking to start anew. That sounds simple enough, but when we watch the events that follow, we see it is far from simple.

But we also see what happened before that led up to that new beginning. Ichiko works as a private nurse for the Oisho family, taking care of their grandmother. She is almost like part of the family. She is mentoring the older granddaughter Motoko (Mikako Ichikawa) who seeks to become a nurse as well. (We learn along the way that Motoko has something of a crush on Ichiko.) But then a tragedy strikes the family, Motoko’s little sister goes missing. She is found safe some days after, but it is discovered that Ichiko’s nephew was the culprit. At Motoko’s urging, Ichiko stays quiet about her connection. But when it is discovered things begin to unravel. We also learn that a serious betrayal is central to the news coming out.

The before storyline is told in a straightforward style. It gives us an overview of Ichiko’s life and how it slowly comes apart. The after storyline leaves us in the dark as to just what is happening, letting the before narrative shed bits of light into the shadows. This is a much darker narrative. Ichiko has lost not only her job, but everything important in her life. We aren’t sure where she’s headed in this story until all the pieces from the before story have come into place. Only then do we know why she is doing what she is doing.

The vindictiveness that drives the betrayal of Ichiko and Ichiko’s pursuit of revenge really becomes the fuel of injuring those who act out of malice. While the actions may be meant to hurt the other person, in the end, those who do these spiteful actions end up diminishing themselves as much as the other person. A lesson that seeking to harm others often backfires.

A Girl Missing is available on Virtual Cinema through local arthouses.

Photos courtesy of Film Movement.

Monday at AFIFest 2019

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Fifty-one percent of the films at AFI Fest 2019 Presented by Audi are directed by women. In the lobby of the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres where most of the screenings take place stands a large installation entitled “Changing the Chairs”, noting that who sits in the director’s chair makes a difference, and celebrating that more women are now getting the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is mostly known for his work in Japanese horror films, but his film To the Ends of the Earth was undertaken to celebrate the friendship between Japan and Uzbekistan. Yoko (Atsuko Maeda) is a Japanese TV reporter doing a bit of a travelogue of Uzbekistan. She and her crew go to various places in the country looking for interesting stories. During the off hours, she wanders through unfamiliar streets where no one speaks her language. Her anxieties and loneliness begin to take a toll. The film serves as a bit of an introduction to Uzbekistan, but as Yoko discovers, getting to know a country isn’t really the same unless you meet the people as well.

Hala from writer/director Minhal Baig, is a coming-of-age story of a young woman from a Pakistani immigrant family. Hala (Geraldine Viswanathan) is a senior in high school, but her parents’ conservative values do not fit with the world she lives in. She begins seeing a non-Muslim boy. She sneaks out. But it becomes more complicated when she discovers a secret about her father, with whom she has been close. Her life seems to be shadowing Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, which she is studying in school. It is not just about finding herself, but about her mother also finding herself. And about finding a synthesis between her parents’ world and her own. It’s not the first film I’ve seen about young Muslim women struggling in western culture. But it is a well done film that left me pulling at threads and then noting that perhaps it wasn’t unraveling after all. (For a film to stay with you after you’ve watched it is a good thing, especially if you think better of it as time goes along.) Hala will open in select theaters on Friday and will stream at AppleTV+ in December.

Kingdom – Japanese Telling of Chinese History

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If you strip away the sex and dragons from Game of Thrones you have the story of trying to unite warring factions into a single kingdom and bring the period of warfare to an end. Kingdom (based on a seinen manga series of graphic novels, and later a seventy-seven episode  anime tv series) is a fictionalized telling of such a story based in the Warring States Period  (3rd century BCE) of Chinese history as the Qin dynasty seeks to unite the many kingdoms that have been at war for five hundred years. As in GOT, this film is filled with intrigue (although not as complex as GOT), heroes who rise to the occasion, individual fighting, and grand battles.

The story is told through the eyes of Li Xin (Kento Yamazaki), an orphan reduced to a life of a slave. A fellow slave, Piao (Ryô Yoshizawa), convinces him that the only way out of slavery is to become great warriors, so they train with stick-swords for years, awaiting the day when they can achieve glory. One day, a general sees them sparring, and chooses Piao to go to the palace to serve the king. The two long to be together, but when Piao must leave, Xin continues to train, knowing that some day they will fight together.

Then one night, Piao arrives wounded and dying. He gives Xin a map that will lead hm to someone in need of his fighting skills. When Xin follows the map, he finds… Piao! (Actually, it is the king, Yang Zheng [also played by Yoshizawa]). Piao was recruited to serve as a double for the king, and when a coup was attempted, Piao lead the assassins away while Zheng escaped. Now Zheng must find a way to regain his throne. Xin is torn between fulfilling his friend’s desire to aid the king and avenging Piao’s death because he blames Zheng. Xin agrees to help Zheng find his loyal general and connect with the mountain tribes to have enough strength to overcome his opponents. Xin uses his self-taught skills to share in the fight to restore Zheng and become “the greatest general under the stars.”

As the story progresses issues of classism play a key role. That a slave might rise to become a general is only a part of this. The usurper king, Zheng’s half-brother Jiao (Kanata Hongô, who often seems to be channeling Joffrey Baratheon), justifies the coup by pointing out that Zheng’s mother was a commoner, making him unworthy of the throne. In that sense, the ideals of equality (or superiority) form the foundation for conflict throughout the film. Zheng, who must convince the mountain clan to join with him, shares his dream of a more diverse nation which gains strength through coming together in peace.

But that is not an easy task. Zheng concedes, “Different ethnic groups with their own beliefs and cultures can only coexist after blood has been shed. Years of discrimination and resentment can be erased. A look at history shows how hard it is to overcome.”

Xin continues to seek vengeance for his friend, but that vengeance takes a backseat to the larger goal of restoration of Zheng to the throne and the bringing together of a nation. Along the way he learns that vengeance is not a fitting objective. He learns “When a king takes up the sword motivated by hatred or grudges, his kingdom will parish.” The nobility of Zheng and his followers becomes the building block of the new nation—and Xin is on his way to finding greatness by sharing in that noble cause.