It Only Happens in the Movies? Japanese Cinema and Encounters: All About Our House

Have you ever wondered the complications of owning your own house in Japan? Well this film explores BUILDING your own house and all the processes to get to living in your own dream home. Part of the Japan Foundation's Touring Film festival: It Only Happens in the Movies? Japanese Cinema and Encounters - All About Our House - written and directed by Koki Mitani (The Uchoten Hotel, Once In a Blue Moon).

We follow the married couple Naosuke (Naoki Tanaka) and Tamiko (Akiko Yagi) who decide to build a new house from scratch instead of renting (society norm), recruiting a trendy young interior designer, Mr Yanagisawa, to plan, and Tamiko’s retired-carpenter father to build. However, not too long there is a culture clash between the innovative ideas vs the sturdiness of the house foundations and the plans of there 'contemporary' house has now become rather traditional instead. The project begins to move from their and Mr Yanagisawa dream home to Tamiko's fathers last project doing as he pleases and poo pooing any new ideas.

It's great seeing the team of builders a bunch of elderly men working together with such vigour and joy and doing a great job to ignore the Naosuke's. The best argument that is underlined through the whole film is that of the front door opening out or in. Out is a sign of American architecture but the builders want a traditional Japanese house. This is almost the deciding factor of Mr Yanagisawa quitting.

It shows two sides of the coin and should promote compromise or a fusion of two styles but doesn't the father is set on his ways and despite his daughter not wanting a tatmi (Japanese room) he makes sure to make the room double the original quoted size to spite her. It is funny watching the quarrels but there isn't much development.

I liked the holy rituals to purify the land and to bless the house as it gives an insight into Jpanese tradition and culture. All in all the house is finally built, the foundation is sturdy and has a little artistic flair including some rare bamboo tiles that Mr Yanagisawa suggests and actually impresses the builders.

Catch the cinema on the big screen in Edinburgh Filmhouse and Nottingham Broadway in March.

It Only Happens in the Movies? Japanese Cinema and Encounters: My Little Sweet Pea

 I began to see the genre Japan Foundation chosen for this years film festival at ICA London- loss of family and had a great sadness watching the protagonist fight her emotions on whether to accept her estranged mother or not.

Catch another showing of this film:

Filmhouse
26 February 2015

Tyneside Cinema
2 March 2015

mac birmingham
3 March 2015

My little Sweetpea

A contemporary film set in current Kapan where Meguka lives a life of struggle with her brother ( Ryûhei Matsuda also starred in Otaku's in Love). Their father dies 3 years ago and lives on her Brothers wages or so she thinks.

Her world is turned upside down when a woman turns up on there  doorstep claiming to be her mother. Abandoning them as children due to their fathers infidelity Megu and her brother find it hard to forgive her.

However out of greed then agree yo her living with them as she had been sending them rent money regularly but was now unable to afford it. Megu is forced to lice with her mother Saiko as the brother decides to move out out of irritation.

She cannot tolerate the molly codelling and invasion of privacy, after her manga is thrown out and her application to voice acting school opened she lashes out at Saiko. Soon after she passes away from advanced liver cancer.

The story takes a strange detour where Megu travels to her mothers home town to bury her. Here us stared at and treated like a celebrity as she is the spitting image of her mum. Saiko was the high flyer and beauty queen of town.

Megu begins to learn more about her mother and the hardships of divorce. Did she come to stay with her knowing these were the last moments of her life? She didn't become the rich singer she dreamed of being but she was happy to have her kids. Through meeting the people in the village especially Saiko's friend Micheru she forgives her mother.

This film covered a lot of life's hardships, people are complex and not always clear. Also it was great to see hard working adults indulging in past times such as manga. Parents overall shape our behavior and way of living. Also was nice to see the curators choose a film looking at Otaku culture and having the actor Matsuda re appear after being show in Otaku's in Love at the last years touring film festival.

It Only Happens in the Movies? Japanese Cinema and Encounters:Wood Job

The end of January marks the start of the Japan Foundations acclaimed touring film festival. There is normally a theme and a collect of movies to match and depict contemporary and past of Japan. After the introduction an an anime called 'Colourful' featuring the famous director in attendance, Keiichi Hara, (directed, Shin Chan, Doremon). They have returned with two more anime's for there line up.

Wood Job! directed by Shinobu Yaguchi (directed Waterboys) brought a stir to the ICA London last night. With a sold out screening of the movie which held promise of comedy and foresting. Looking at the preview photos it is apparent the film is about nature and country life. We follow protagonist the city kid Hirano Yuki falling in love with a photo of a girl in a lumberjack magazine.

Unlike most boys, he decides to become a lumberjack in hope of meeting this beautiful girl - he has no idea what he is in for.  He has to learn the physics of trees and why people become forresters. This deters him from the start and before running away he actually encounters the girl from the advertisement and finds out which area she is from. Skip a intensive learning course and he has graduated and now embarks a year placement at a village to learn the physical ins and outs of felling trees. This again wouldn't be too bad if the region he chose (to find the love of his life) wasn't in the most treacherous mountain with the supervisor who hates his guts.

Yoki takes to the village introduces him to the people and tells him not to think of running away and Yuki tries but when he figures it's a 2 hour drive to the only bus stop he begins to realise he is needs to suck it up. For eating snakes to being munched on by leeches he grows up fast in the village and this becomes his way of living for a year. He appreciates the smell of the freshly cut trees, the money made for a finely kept log and even  gets to meet the girl of his dreams - a maid since she was dumped by the last trainee forester - ouch.

This film integrates so much comedy between Yuki and villagers from the culture clash and does so subtly as compared to Waterboys. The film strengthens the notion of looking after mother earth and making do with what you have. A group of Yuki's town friends come to spectate his new life and disrespect his lifestyle which makes him question going back home. Without spoiling the ending he has a lot to prove to the village before being considered a true mountain man.

Watch it on 3rd Feb at the ICA buy tickets here:

https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/japan-foundation-touring-film-programme-wood-job-qa-0