Nominee for Grand Jury Prize World Cinema Drama at Sundance Film Festival 2005

In Japanese with English and Chinese Subtitles
Genre: Drama
Director: Jun Ichikawa
Starring: Issei Ogata, Rie Miyazawa
RunTime: 1 hr 25 mins
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Rating: PG

Opening Day: 31 August 2006 (The Picturehouse)

Synopsis:

A simple, undemanding mechanical draftsman who lives a lonely existence meets a young and beautiful girl who he falls for her instantly, despite their 15-year age difference. He soon discovers that his new wife is a shopaholic who cannot stop buying clothing and when tragedy strikes, he is forced to look at his life in a whole different way.

Movie Review:

Many great movies are made with a singular message. This is not one of them.

Tony Takitani (Issey Ogata) is a product of a loveless marriage and cursed with a gaijin name in xenophobic Japan. As his mother died young and his father (also Issey Ogata) was always traveling with his jazz band, Tony grew up to be a very old and very lonely technical illustrator without the ability to feel and emote for others. Things seem to turn for the better when he met young Konuma Eiko (Rie Miyazawa), a self-confessed shopaholic who, in the convenient world of symbolism, gives in totally to her emotions. For the first time in his life, Tony was not alone and he was able to cultivate some empathy for his father’s music. Tragically, Tony’s attempt to persuade Eiko into his emotionless world by reining in her shopaholic tendencies resulted in both a literal and metaphorical u-turn in his life. Eiko met with a traffic accident while agonizing over the return of a coat and silk dress and was killed.

Unable to cope with his loss, Tony tried to forget Eiko gradually by hiring a doppelganger, Hisako (also Rie Miyazawa), to wear her clothes to work. However, Hisako was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of clothes left behind by Eiko and was turned into a slobbering heap of tears. Tony realized that Hisako resembled Eiko too much and was unable to continue to with the plan. Instead, he sold all of Eiko’s clothes. When his father died, Tony sold his records too. This showed that Tony is really incapable of feeling and is truly a loner. The man doesn’t get it.

Having reverted to his staid state of existence, Tony could not understand how a stranger like Hisako was able to experience such strong visceral emotions in the presence of his wife’s possessions when he is unable to. Why is this so? Because, just like it was mentioned very early in the movie, “loneliness can be a prison”. Cut to black. End of the 75-min movie.

Film reviewers usually do not outline the entire plot of a movie. Nevertheless, this movie is so sparsely scripted and requires the audience to actively fill in so much of the blanks that someone has to attempt it here. Make no mistake – the audience member should be able to grasp the movie’s theme of loss and solitude right from the start (from the dawdling third-person narration, the excruciatingly slow pace of the movie and the first two notes of a meager score) – it is the details of the story that needs to be fleshed out. Trust us to appreciate social alienation – we have people like Eric Khoo and Royston Tan doing nothing else but portraying that particular well-worn theme. Unfortunately, the movie succeeded in being so stark and insipid that I simply was not inspired to investigate what has transpired. In fact, my movie partner came up with the interpretation of the film while taking her long ride home.

Director Jun Ichikawa tries to express the theme of isolation explicitly by using just about four actors (including the narrator and young Takitani), sets of muted colours and shots composed on notions of nothingness. The actors also take turns to complete the narrator’s sentences for him, probably because they cannot stand his droning voice going on and on about their lives. I guess this lyrical interaction is supposed to elevate the movie into the realm of the metaphysical. This movie also showcases great character acting by Rie Miyazawa’s painted toenails and Issey Ogata’s forlorn eyebags. I guess shots of the aforementioned body parts are meant to convey a sense of remoteness and quiet contemplation as well.

All in all, this movie is well-crafted and focused, but just like the reed-thin figure of Rie Miyazawa and the brusque attempts of Tony Takitani at forgetting, this movie cast no shadows and ultimately leaves no lasting impression on the audience.

Movie Rating:

(Much as I would love to love this movie, please read the book instead)

Review by Lim Mun Pong