Sawako Decides
With another outstanding performance by Hikari Mitsushima (Love Exposure) writer/director Yuya Ishii creates a likable comedy for all of us that are ‘lower-middling’…
Anyone would think Third Window Films were the only UK based distribution company interested in Japanese films that don’t happen to have scantily clad babes dismembering zombies or with gatling guns for arms anymore. Okay, perhaps not strictly true. Artificial Eye release Takashi Miike’s outstanding and out-of-character 13 Asassins, and as for Norwegian Wood – well, any adaption of one of one of Haruki Murakami’s best-loved novels was always going to get wider exposure.
Sawako Decides, written and directed by Yuya Ishii, has been causing caught a stir a recent festivals including the London Film Festival and Berlin Festival, and winner of Best Film and Best Actress at Canada’s Fantasia International Film Festival. It brings Third Window’s tally to a recent hat trick along with Tetsuya Nakashima’s Confessions and Sion Sono’s Cold Fish. All the films have a particular kind of writer/director in common with a quirky eye for everyday life, though if Yuya’s (easily the youngest of these filmmakers) vision is somewhat less epic than his peers, and admittedly less dark than their recent efforts, the result is not.
Singer turned exceptional actress Hikari Mitsushima (Love Exposure, Death Note) stars as the eponymous lead, a very ordinary girl living a quite outstanding life in Tokyo, she describes herself as ‘lower-middling’, no one special. It’s her fifth year in Toyko, in her fifth job and onto her fifth boyfriend Kenichi (Masashi Endo, Love Twisted, Wild Zero), a useless toy designer who dreams of knitting (yes, knitting!) himself, and his daughter form a previous marriage, into the ecological good life.
Then home comes calling in the form of her ailing father, owner of an equally ailing freshwater clam processing company, and her uncle Nobuo (Ryo Iwamatsu, Turtles Are Surprisingly Good Swimmers, Instant Swamp, Love Exposure) pleading her to come back and take over the reigns. Sawako is once again swept along by life, when her boyfriend decides they should go after losing his job.
Back in her provincial hometown things don’t get any better, as the town gossips about her and why she left, casting aspersions and judging all the time. It won’t come as any surprise to the audience that the moment meek Sawako decides to do anything things change, but it might surprise a few just how easy it is – all she has to do is speak up. Can Sawako save the company – again, few surprises there…
There’s a familiar tone to Yuya’s, not it has a distinctly ‘indie’ feel not unlike that of American independent cinema, it’s reminiscent of films like Fine, Totally Fine, Turtles Are Surprisingly Good Swimmers and Bare Essence Of Life – even earlier Tetsuya works like Kamikaze Girls. It’s a lot more rooted in the real world, stopping short of completely absurdist comedy to make the drama more poignant.
There’s easily a comment here about masculine attitudes towards women in Japan, and how women can empower themselves. The male characters have little to redeem themselves, from loser Kenichi to lecherous Nobuo, except Sawako’s father who truly loves his daughter and wants to see her excel. In comparison the female characters may be guilty of letting their partners walk over them, sometimes, but feel more well rounded – again bringing a direct comparison with the work of Tetsuya Nakashima.
All of which couldn’t happen if not for the core performance of Hikari Mitsushima, totally unrecognisable from her strident character in Love Exposure. Like the rest of us, Yuya seems quite taken with Hikari, resulting in the pair getting married soon after the film was released. (What, did we turn into Heat magazine all of a sudden?)
Thoroughly enjoyable and thankfully rather less dark than some of the Japanese imports lately, I for one hope Third Window put together another strong DVD release to accompany it.
Catch this one if you can…
Sawako Decides is released on UK DVD by Third Window Films on Monday 3rd October.
DVD details
Distributor: Third Window Films (UK)
Edition: DVD (2011)
A solid if not overwhelming release from Third Window includes an introduction and an informative 30 minute interview with the director Yuya Ishii, exclusive to this edition.
Currently not widely available on DVD, this is a great chance to get hold of one of teh most enjoyable Japanese films of the last year.
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