Is all that we see or seem
But but a dream within a dream?
- Edgar Allen Poe
The human mind loves to try to bring
order to chaos. That is why readers are
drawn to classic detective fiction like that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie
where we marvel at the ability of Sherlock Holmes or Hercules Poirot to solve the
mystery conclusively by bringing together threads of clues and witness
testimonies. The modern detective;
however, will tell you that such eyewitness testimony is often not very
reliable. Not only can it be coloured by
prejudice, but the human mind can sometimes play tricks on us.
The first sign in Sway (ゆれる, 2006) that
Takeru Hayakawa (Joe Odagiri) is not
a reliable witness comes when he returns to his home town for his mother’s
funeral. The self-anointed black sheep of the Hayakawa family, Takeru barges
late into the funeral services dressed head to toe in red, inciting his father
(Masatō Ibu) into a rage over his
lack of filial piety. The root of the
bad feeling appears to be Takeru’s decision to reject joining the family
business – a non-nondescript gas station – to become a big shot photographer in
Tokyo. Yet, Isamu Hayakawa’s extreme
reaction to his son suggests the strife runs even deeper into the family’s
history.
The older brother Minoru (Teruyuki Kagawa), tries to bridge the
yawning chasm between them by giving Takeru their mother’s Fujicascope
projector and old 8mm home movies she took when they were little. One of the 8mm reels contains footage of a
family outing to Hasumi Gorge, where Minoru recalls fondly fishing there with
their father. Takeru does not remember
ever going to the gorge and Minoru teases him, telling Takeru prophetically
that he has selective memory made cloudy by the Tokyo smog.
The camaraderie between the brothers sours when Takeru decides to seduce his old girlfriend Chieko Kawabata
(Yōko Maki). Chieko has been working for
the Hayakawas since the company she used to work for went under. She had a friendly, flirtatious relationship
with Minoru and he’d been hoping she might take a fancy to him. Chieko joins the brothers on a trip to visit
Hasumi Gorge, and her shocking sudden death at the old suspension bridge is the
mystery that sets into motion the remainder of the film. However, whether or not Minoru was responsible for Chieko's death is really just a red herring. The true question is whether or not this tragedy will bring the brothers closer together or tear their tenuous relationship apart forever.
Director Miwa Nishikawa has a deft hand for creating dramatic tension in her
screenplays. Whereas the master of
suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, would
create it by showing the audience more than what the characters know, Nishikawa
creates suspense by withdrawing visual information from us. We only see as much of the events on that fateful
day as Takeru can remember, and we are drawn into his struggle to find a way to
help his brother avoid being sentenced to prison for murder while remaining
true to himself. We share Takeru’s
frustration at not knowing all the details of what led to Chieko falling from
the bridge.
Sway is an
extraordinary film which at turns recalls the themes of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashōmon
(1950), the mysterious beauty of Peter
Greenaway’s Picnic at Hanging Rock
(1975), and the withholding of information narrative structure of Atom Egoyan’s Exotica (1994). The colours
in Sway are muted, but beautifully
done and like Hitchcock and Kurosawa one has the impression that every frame
of the film was carefully composed ahead of the filming. It’s the type of film one needs to watch more
than once in order to appreciate the subtle nuances of expression and meaning.
Catherine Munroe Hotes 2012
The Japanese DVD release of Sway has
excellent English subtitles for the feature, no subs for the extras. The film was so well received at festivals
that it also got a US release.
Directed and Written by Miwa
Nishikawa
Cinematography by Hiroshi Takase
Original Music by the Cauliflowers
Cast
Joe Odagiri as Takeru Hayakawa
Teruyuki Kagawa as Minoru Hayakawa
Masatō Ibu as Isamu Hayakawa
Hirofumi Arai as Yohei Okajima
Yōko Maki as
Chieko Kawabata
