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Poupelle of Chimney Town – Conviction of things not seen

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“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, NRSV)

Faith in the unseen is the driving force in Yusuke Hirota’s animated film, Poupelle of Chimney Town. It is a faith that seems ridiculous to some and dangerous to others. But for the boy at the center of the story, it is so strong that he must find a way to show the world the truth that has been hidden for centuries.

Chimney Town is a town filled with smoke belching chimneys that run day and night so that the sky is nothing but dark smoke, Lubicci is a young chimney sweep without friends. He remembers that his father Bruno would tell stories about what was beyond the smoke—a sky filled with stars. But there is no one in all of Chimney Town that has ever seen such an unlikely thing.

A bright object falls through the clouds and land in a trash pile, and transforms into a creature made of garbage. Lubicci befriends him and names him Poupelle. Together they dream of seeing the stars that Bruno spoke of. But the authorities are on the look out for anyone who speaks of stars or anything beyond the smoke. Inquisitors are constantly seeking out heretics who do not accept the official belief system. When the Inquisitors start coming for Lubicci and Poupelle, Lubicci comes up with a plan that can show the world the truth.

Lubicci operates out of faith. He knows that there is nothing to prove that stars really exist. But there is also nothing to disprove their existence. But such open-mindedness is a threat to the tyrannical regime that has created the world of Chimney Town. The stability of the society is built on accepting the key dogma, “There is no outside world; there is only this world.” As Lubicci lives out his faith in the unseen stars, he challenges the very fabric of the society. As such the story serves as a fable about speaking truth to power.

Faith, as we see in this story, can be an oppressive force, as with the Inquisitors who seek heretics. It can also be a liberating force when it opens a world to new ideas that may not seem obvious. Within the political world, there is a constant struggle to find truth among the massive amounts of “smoke”. No doubt those who buy into QAnon believe that they know the stars are behind the smoke of mainstream media. Others will see the conspiracy theories of QAnon as the smoke we must get rid of.

We can see the same if we look at religious life. Dogmatism and the thought that one group has the truth are always divisive and destructive.  Evanglicalism and broad ecumenism seem hard to put together. Multi-culturalism and diversity may seem to be smoke or they may be the forces that prevent calcified belief systems from obscuring our view of the truth.

Lubicci didn’t just speak of his faith in starts; he acted out that faith. It was through his actions that the truth had a chance to be known by all. And by acting on his faith, he discovered new depths within himself that allowed him to expand his world.

Poupelle of Chimney Town is available on VOD and will soon be available digitally and on DVD.

Photos courtesy of 11 Arts.

Sexual Drive – Food, sex, and love

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Food and sex are among our greatest pleasures. At times, they are intimately linked, especially in films. Sexual Drive¸ from director Yoshida Kôta, is built around the connection of sensuality the two share. It is part thriller, part sex comedy, and culinary adventure.

The film is made up of three vignettes, each titled after a culinary dish. The vignettes are linked by one common character, Kurita, who visits people and tells them things (which may or may not be true) about intimate things in their lives. In “Nattu” (a fermented soy bean dish), Enatsu is worried about the absence of sex in his marriage. Kurita comes and tells Enatsu that he is having an affair with his wife, going into graphic detail about the pleasure he brings her. In “Mapo Tofu” (a spicy Chinese dish), Akane suffers from panic attacks while driving. After (maybe) hitting Kurita with the car, he tells her they were in the same class in 2nd grade where she bullied him, and that her true nature is a bit sadistic. In “Ramen with Extra Back Fat”, Ikeyama is thinking about breaking off an affair. Kurita calls him from his lover’s phone claiming to have kidnapped her, and making him follow her journey after being rejected.

In each section, food is either eaten or prepared with a certain amount of eroticism. The “Nattu” section gets a bit lewd, but over all the stories are not so much about either sex or food. They are about what it means to find pleasure in another person. That is, what it means to love.

Food has often carried a sensual power in film. Some examples that come quickly to mind are Chocolat, Tom Jones, and When Harry Met Sally. Films often show hedonism in both the kitchen and the bedroom. And it becomes easy for us to make the not very long leap to connect the two.

So it is with Sexual Drive. As Kurita makes his visits with these people, he is a mixture of sex/relationship counselor, storyteller, and torturer. He brings hard truths to the people he meets, but in those hard truths are the way for them to find a happiness that is eluding them—and the people they love.

For viewers it is a reminder of the pleasures that fill our lives, but even more that the real pleasures of life are found in the people we love and share our lives with.

Sexual Drive is available through Virtual Cinema and VOD.

Photos courtesy of Film Movement.

Minamata: An Eye for Truth

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Directed by Andrew Levitas, Minamata follows W. Eugene Smith (Johnny Depp), an American photographer who was known for his ‘photographic essays’ in Life magazine. In 1971, Smith is urged by a Japanese translator named Aileen (Minami) to return home with her to Minamata so that he can report on the toxic effects of the Chisso Corporation’s chemical waste on her community. Intrigued by the assignment, Smith moves to Japan and uses his camera to aid their fight against industrial pollution.

Based on the powerful true story of a coastal city ravaged by mercury poisoning, Minamata is a devastating film that explores the damage that can be done when corporate greed takes hold. Both terrifying and empowering, the film is a heart-breaking experience that still feels relevant, even though the events took place over 50 years ago. 

Of course, the most high-profile performance is Depp who seems to be thoroughly engaged as W. Eugene Smith, even though the role calls for him to lean away from his trademark charm. Broken down by the weight of the world, Smith is a man who grumbles about the media with loathing. Although the role leaves little room for the goofiness that made Depp an icon, his quirky appeal still manages to break through in several places.

However, what’s most interesting about Depp’s role is that Levitas uses him more sparingly than one would expect. As the film begins, we follow Smith as he leaves for Japan, learns their culture and begins to take action against the Chisso corporation. However, whereas one might assume that the film is going to be a ‘Johnny Depp vehicle’ where he ultimately saves the day, Levitas instead gradually uses him less and less within the film. Rather than portray him as the hero, Levitas gradually pushes Eugene into the background. In doing so, Eugene no longer becomes the driving force of the film’s narrative and merely an observer as to what’s happening around him. To his credit, this reshaping of the role requires a great deal of humility for an actor of Depp’s stature by (rightfully) placing the emphasis on the people who were affected most deeply by the events instead of a Hollywood star.

With Depp’s role moved into the background, Levitas wisely chooses to elevate the importance of the people who were making a difference on the front lines. Most significantly, Minamata emphasizes the importance of Smith’s wife, Aileen as a key voice that becomes a force for change. As Aileen, Minami brings a strength to her performance that often steals scenes from her famous co-star. However, at the same time, Levitas also spends a great deal of screen time with those that were suffering as a result of the contamination. Unlike other historical biopics, these are not people who require a hero to save them. Instead, Levitas makes the wise decision to emphasize their experience and show their willingness to rise up together.

With an emphasis on justice, Minamata is a film which wears its heart on its sleeve. At every opportunity, Levitas highlights the struggles of this impoverished community as they battle the corporate powers that be. Scenes where the community debates their decision to fight back against the mighty Cisso feel honest and urgent. What’s more, using alternating black and white and colour schemes, Levitas attempts to tie Smith’s camera into the chaos of the moment.

Minamata is a reminder of the power and influence that journalism carries, especially when one considers that this takes place at a time when North American culture remained relatively unfamiliar with the struggles that were taking place around the world. Although he is far from the hero of the film, Eugene’s images take on almost heroic aspects as an immediate call for action. Using his camera as his weapon, Smith’s images helped transform a generation by expressing both truth and passion simultaneously. Led by his iconic work Tomoko and Mother in the Bath, Smith’s photo journal helped shine a light on people’s suffering to give a voice to those that have none. 

For Smith, the lens of camera gives rise to truth and honesty.  

While Depp remains the film’s primary draw, there is a lot more to Minamata than a simple star vehicle. By allowing his camera to transport the viewer into the pain of the past, Levitas has developed a film that leaves a mark on the soul. By exploring the effects of a trauma that continues to affect its community over five decades later, there’s an unease about the film which echoes after the credits roll.

To hear our interview with director Andrew Levitas, click here.

Minamata is available on VOD on Friday, April 8th, 2022.

Monster Mondays: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) [aka Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster]

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By Ben Dower

Ryota Kane (Toru Watanabe) is desperate to search for his brother Yata Kane (Toru Ibuki), who has disappeared while at sea.  He tries to join a dance contest to win a boat, but is too late.  He goes with two men who lost the dance contest to the harbour, where they sneak onto a boat.  Inside the boat they find bank robber Yoshimura (Akira Takarada) hiding, but decide to spend the night on board.

The next morning, they awake to find Ryota has stolen the boat and is searching for his brother.  They get caught in a powerful storm, which washes them to Letchi Island.  As they near the island, the boat is attacked and destroyed by a giant lobster named Ebirah, but they all make it ashore safely.

On the island, they find a secret terrorist organization called Red Bamboo that is producing nuclear weapons.  Red Bamboo is enslaving people from Infant Island and using them to make a yellow liquid that keeps Ebirah away from their ships.  

A woman from Infant Island named Daiyo (Kumi Mizuno) manages to escape her Red Bamboo captors and joins with Ryota and his friends.  They find Godzilla sleeping on the island and awaken him.  Godzilla confronts Ebirah, and after a quick skirmish the two monsters go their separate ways.

Yata is found and the friends come up with a plan to sabatoge Red Bamboo, free the captured Infant Islanders, and escape Letchi Island.  The enslaved Infant Islanders create a fake yellow juice that won’t repel Ebirah.  Godzilla rampages through Red Bamboo’s base, activiating a nuclear self-destruct sequence.  As Red Bamboo flees the island, Ebirah attacks and sinks their boat, the fake yellow liquid doing nothing to stop him.

Godzilla fights Ebirah once more, ripping the giant crustacean’s claws off, and Mothra arrives in time to fly the film’s heros and Infant Islanders to safety.  Godzilla also manages to escape the island just before it is destroyed by Red Bamboo’s nuclear bomb. 

After the interplanetary special effects tour-de-force that was Invasion of Astro-Monster, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep feels a lot more low key.  The film is set primarily on tropical island locations and has a much simpler plot than the two Ghidorah movies.  There are no scenes of major urban destruction, and both battles between Godzilla and Ebirah take place primarily in the water, something entirely new for the Godzilla series.

Part of the reason for the simplified special effects scenes is due to budget restraints.  In January 1966, a new monster television show began airing called Ultra Q.  Ultra Q was followed up in July 1966 by Ultraman, the first in a series of TV programs featuring a transforming giant alien that fights giant monsters.  With televisions now common in Japanese households and giant monsters regularly on TV, people had less of a need to go to the theatre to see giant monsters on the screen.  Add to that the fact Ebirah, Horror of the Deep was not a partially American funded co-production like Invasion of Astro-Monster, and it’s easy to understand why Toho was cutting budgets on their Godzilla pictures.

That’s not to say Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is a bad movie, because it isn’t.  What Ebirah, Horror of the Deep lacks in big budget monster action, it makes up for in human action.  The film has a real James Bond feel to it, with the over-the-top terrorist organization Red Bamboo pursuing our main characters all over Letchi Island.  The whole movie is just a lot of fun, from the dance contest at the beginning to the nuclear explosive climax.

Interestingly, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep was initially planned to be a King Kong movie.  The film was intended to be a co-production with Rankin/Bass Productions as a tie-in with their King Kong cartoon series.  Rankin/Bass, however, apparently rejected the script, so Toho just replaced King Kong with Godzilla and produced the film themselves.  Clues that this was intended to be a King Kong movie still remain in the finished film, such as the scene where Godzilla becomes fixated on Daiyo at one point.  Toho would eventually produce King Kong Escapes with Rankin/Bass the following year.

While the whole film is pretty fast-paced and light-hearted, there is still some social commentary present.  The “Red” in Red Bamboo is clearly an allusion to communism and bamboo is a plant most commonly associated with pandas and China.  Red Bamboo’s Captain Yamoto (Akihiko Hirata) also wears an eye patch with a dragon on it.  In the mid-1960s, China became a nuclear-armed state.  Red Bamboo is clearly meant as a commentary on China’s nuclear weapons development.

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep was released directly to television in the United States in 1967 as Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster by Walter Reade Organization.  It was edited slightly and given an English dub by Titra Studios in the United States.  This version was the only version distributed in North America for decades. 

In 2005, TriStar released Toho’s international version of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep on DVD.  This version had the onscreen titles changed to English, and viewers could choose to watch it with the original Japanese audio or Toho’s own English dub, which was produced at Frontier Enterprises in Japan.  The international version with the same two audio options was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Kraken Releasing in 2014.  Both the TriStar and Kraken releases are out of print.  Only the original Japanese version of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is currently available, and it is as part of The Criterion Collection’s Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 Blu-ray set featuring the first 15 Godzilla movies.

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.