About Her Brother (おとうと, 2010)

On my return flight to Europe this summer I lucked out in finding a Yōji Yamada (山田洋次, b. 1931) film on KLM’s in-flight entertainment system. With a filmography of over a hundred films (as either writer or director) and a Shochiku career spanning over half a century, a Yamada film rarely disappoints. From the hilarity of the Tora-san films (男はつらいよ/Otoko wa Tsurai yo) to the intense period drama Twilight Samurai (たそがれ清兵衛/Tasogare Seibei, 2002), Yamada’s oeuvre has a depth and range that is arguably unparalleled by any other living director.

The brother-sister bond

About Her Brother (おとうと/Otōto, 2010) opens with a dedication to Kon Ichikawa’s award-winning film of the same name Her Brother (おとうと/Otōto, 1960). “Otōto” literally translates as “little brother” and as the official English titles indicate, the central relationship of both films is that of an older sister and her little brother. I have only seen excerpts from Ichikawa’s film in documentaries as it is a rare film outside of Japan (despite the fact that it won an award at Cannes!). From what I can gather, Yamada’s film is not a remake, nor is it an adaptation of the original novel by Aya Koda. Rather, it is thematically inspired by Ichikawa’s film. In both films, the younger brother is the black sheep of the family and his behaviour causes particular trouble to his older sister. I also know that Yamada reused the scene in which the two siblings sleep with their wrists tied together by a pink ribbon. The biggest difference seems to be generational: where the siblings in Ichikawa’s film look to be in their twenties or thirties, in Yamada’s film they are a generation older.

Yamada’s film begins with the titular brother already estranged from the family. His niece Koharu (Yū Aoi of One Million Yen Girl, Hula Girls) is celebrating her impending marriage with her mother Ginko (Sayuri Yoshinaga of Kabei: Our Mother, A Chaos of Flowers) and paternal grandmother Kinuo (Haruko Kato of Howl’s Moving Castle, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters). The women also serve a glass of wine for Koharu’s late father, placing the glass by his photograph on the family shrine. 

Indeed, everyone  is looking forward to Koharu’s wedding with great excitement, but they all share the same fear: has Tetsuro Tanno, the younger brother, been invited? Tetsuro (Tsurube Shōfukutei of Dear Doctor, Kabei: Our Mother) had been very close to the family, both before and after Koharu’s father’s death, but his relationship with them is strained due to his alcoholism. At the ceremony to celebrate the 13th anniversary of Koharu’s father’s death, Tetsuro went on a binge and caused such embarrassment that the family banished him.

Tetsuro demonstrates why he's the black sheep of the family

Tetsuro does indeed make an uproarious appearance at Koharu’s wedding, once again bringing disgrace to the family. This event leads not only to further the estrangement of Tetsuro, but it also triggers a series of events that affect everyone connected to the family in varying ways. The interconnected web of family and neighbours in About Her Brother are reminiscent of an Ozu family drama. So too is the delicate balance of comedy and tragedy.

While the ‘Ototo’ may be the catalyst for the plot, equally important are the three generations of women who bind the family together through thick and thin. The elderly Kinuo resents having her opinions ignored by her daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Ginko, the pharmacist, supports the family both financially and emotionally. And the young Koharu is still in the process of discovering what she really wants for her life.

The three generations of women at the heart of the drama

I cannot comment on the cinematography of the film as an in-flight movie screen drastically alters the cinematographer’s intentions; however, I can say that I really enjoyed the use of Tsutenkaku Tower as a symbol in the film. Tokyo Tower has become almost a cliché in recent films and TV dramas set in Tokyo, so it was nice to see a different architectural structure getting some time in the spotlight. When Tetsuro falls ill, he can see Tsutenkaku Tower from his hospice room. This is significant not only as a symbol of Osaka, but also because of the tower’s association with Billiken, the symbol of good luck and happiness. 

About Her Brother has an outstanding cast. Tsurube Shōfukutei as the younger brother had me alternately roaring with laughter and holding back the tears. Not only are the lead roles performed brilliantly, but the actors in smaller roles also shine. Standout performances include Ryō Kase (Letters from Iwo Jima, Pool, Megane) as Koharu’s friend and possible love interest, Nenji Kobayashi (Twilight Samurai, Love and Honor) as the older brother, and Takashi Sasano (one of my favourite character actors) as the neighbour Maruyama.

All in all, it is a stirring portrait of a complex family.  It is a bit of a mystery to me how the film has ended up as an in-flight movie without having received a wide release anywhere outside of Japan (except possibly Singapore).  Didn't anyone pick it up at the Berlinale in February when Yamada was there picking up his Berlinale Camera Award for lifetime achievement?  Odd. 

Related Posts:

Dear Doctor
One Million Yen Girl
Megane
Letters from Iwo Jima
Ten Things I Know About Takashi Sasano

Available DVDs:

Ototo [Regular Edition]

Ototo [Blu-ray]

Or for the hardcore fan:

Ototo [Deluxe Edition]

Kon Ichikawa's classic is definitely on my wishlist:

Ototo

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010

Ten Things That I Know About Takashi Sasano, the One Scene Wonder

Takashi Sasano (笹野高史, b. 1948) is one of my favourite character actors. He’s appeared in so many films and television series that his face is a familiar sight to Japanese audiences. With only the widening of his eyes, Sasano can have an audience erupt with peals of laughter. At the same time, he has a great range and depth in serious roles. Sasano recently jumped onto the radar of Western audiences when the Yōjirō Takita’s Departures (おくりびと, 2008) scooped up the Best Foreign Language Film award at the Oscars in 2009. He plays the role of Shokichi Hirata in that film.

Sasano (right) in Departures

1. He was born on the island of Awaji to a family of sake producers. He was the fourth son in the family, but his parents died when he was still a child.

2. In 1968, while studying Film at Nihon University, Sasano joined the company of Jiyū Gekijyō (Freedom Theatre). He dropped out of university, but he staying with the theatre group until 1982.

3. Sasano appears frequently in the films of Yōji Yamada (山田 洋次). Notable among these many collaborations are many of the Tora-san films, Hidden Blade (2004), Kabei: Our Mother (2008), and About Her Brother (2010).

4. Sasano was awarded Best Supporting Actor at the Japanese Academy Awards in 2007 for playing the role of Tokuhei in Yōji Yamada’s Love and Honour (武士の一分/ Bushi no Ichibun, 2006). His performance in this film also garnered him with a Kinema Junpo Award and a Mainichi Film Concours.

Sanko-Seika spot for senbei crackers

5. He calls himself a “one scene actor” because he never turns down a role, no matter how small. This year alone he appears in three feature films, a made-for-TV movie and three TV series. He also does a lot of television commercials.

Sasano's face imprinted on senbei for a Sanko-Seika campaign

6. At age 42, Sasano finally parted ways with bachelorhood, marrying a woman 17 years his junior. 

7. He has four sons, all of whom work in show business: Shota Sasano (ささの翔太, b.1991), Yuma Sasano (ささの 友間, b. 1993), Kenta Sasano (ささの堅太b. 1995), and Takato Sasano (ささの 貴斗, b. 1997).

8. His profile on the talent agency Gran Papa’s website lists his specialties as playing the trumpet and speaking the Osaka dialect.

9. He has written a memoir called Taiki Bansei in which he pokes fun of his status as a late-bloomer and character actor (never a leading man).  I love how the cover highlights his trademark receding hairline.

10. You can follow him on Twitter under the username sasano61

Selected Filmography

1985 Tora-san’s Island Encounter aka Tora-san: From Shibamata with Love

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Shibamata yori Ai o Komete, Yōji Yamada)

1986 Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Shiawase no Aoi Tori, Yōji Yamada)

1987 Tora-san Goes North 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Shiretoko Bojo, Yōji Yamada)

1987 Tora-san Plays Daddy 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō Monogatari, Yōji Yamada)

1988 Tora-san Salad-Day Memorial 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajiro Sarada Kinenbi, Yōji Yamada)

1989 Tora-san Goes to Vienna 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō Kokoro no Tabiji, Yōji Yamada)

1989 Tora-san , My Uncle 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Boku no Ojisan, Yōji Yamada)

1990 Tora-san Takes a Vacation 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō no Kyūjitsu, Yōji Yamada)

1991 Tora-san Confesses 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō no Kokuhaku, Yōji Yamada)

1993 Tora-san 's Matchmaker 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajiro no Endan,Yōji Yamada)

1995 Tora-san to the Rescue 

(Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajiro Kurenai no Hana,Yōji Yamada)

1998 Love Letter (Azuma Morisaki)

1999 The Geisha House (Omocha, Kinji Fukasaku)

2003 Bright Future (Akarui mirai, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

2004 The Hidden Blade (Kakushi ken oni no tsume, Yōji Yamada)

 

2006 Love and Honour (Bushi no Ichibun, Yōji Yamada)

2008 Kabei: Our Mother (Yōji Yamada)

2008 Departures (Okuribito, Yojiro Takita)

2008 One Million Yen Girl (Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna, Yuki Tanada)

2009 Dear Doctor (Miwa Nishikawa)

2010 About Her Brother (Ototo, Yōji Yamada)

2010 Surely Someday (Shun Oguri)

Related Posts:

Dear Doctor
One Million Yen Girl
About Her Brother

Available from Japan:

Ototo [Regular Edition]

Available from the USA:

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010

Day of Nose (鼻の日, 2005)

Tale of the absurd: two big schnozzles during the opening credits

All images © Atsushi Wada

The films of Atsushi Wada (和田淳) are very compelling and challenging for audiences. Even when screened with an omnibus of alternative animation as with the Animation Soup Special that I saw at Nippon Connection in 2009, there was a certain amount of audience confusion at the surreal sequence of events in Well, That’s Glasses (そういう眼鏡/Sou iu megane, 2005) with awkward laughing. The humour and the awkwardness is partly intended on the part of the artist (his work is rife with the absurd), and partly due to the fact that we are trained by popular culture to expect a narrative, and to have our hand held throughout the narrative’s development. When a film is completely abstract, like the graphic play of Maya Yonesho’s animation, I think audiences accept it as a kind of moving abstract painting. However, when a film involves human figures like those of Wada and Kei Oyama audiences are often left baffled.

 The doctor examines the salarymen's noses

The films of Atsushi Wada belong to the category of poetic animation. Where a conventional narrative film like the late Satoshi Kon’s Tokyo Godfathers (2003) is like a novel, a short surreal film like Wada’s Day of Nose (鼻の日/Hana no hi, 2005) should be read more like a modernist poem by someone like William Carlos Williams. Where the pleasure of Tokyo Godfathers comes from the narrative reaching its points of climax, catharsis and resolution, the pleasure of watching an Atsushi Wada film comes from  the subtleties of its rhythms, imagery, and framing. Just like poems need to be read and re-read for their complexities to be revealed, so too do the films of Atsushi Wada improve upon repeat viewing.

One of the most delightful aspects of a Wada film is his use of the absurd. “How can a nose have a day?” the viewer undoubtedly asks themselves, as the film opens with two male figures sliding towards each other as if puppets on a stick and their noses meet in the middle of the frame, squishing up against each other and then backing away to reveal the title of the film between the two schnozzles (see top photo).

Similar but not identitcal salarymen.

The next scene is equally as absurd: close-ups shots of bums (in the UK sense of “bottoms”) standing up and sitting down on stools. This is followed by a close up on feet shuffling and stopping. As the frame widens, we see a queue of similarly dressed salarymen standing up and sitting down upon a row of stools as they await their turn for a doctor to give their nose a squeeze. While the men look very similar, they are not all exactly the same. They all have similar hairstyles parted on the same side, but their heads and faces and heights vary slightly. While they are all wearing the standard salaryman uniform some have jackets, some do not. Some have their ties tucked in, others have their tie fully visible. The whole scene recalls the annual medical examinations done by Japanese businesses of their employees.

When each man is finished with his examination, he walks directly to the wall facing him and peers at something before exiting the screen. Finally one man appears to break ranks by glancing to the side before he sits with the doctor/examiner (as opposite to staring blankly, sheep-like straight ahead) and we see for a moment from his point of view the man ahead of him walking forward to the wall. When he himself approaches the wall, we see the hole from his perspective. He then presses his face up to the wall and breathes “ba ba ba” with an open mouth (breathing and panting is a common motif in Wada’s films). He then uses his hands to widen the hole and crawls inside.

The womb-like bubble - note the warm colours compared to the salaryman grey.

The film then leaves the realms of the possible entirely as the man finds himself in a womb-like, warm-coloured balloon and he swims around in the balloon like a fish. The balloon deflates and re-inflates and then disengages itself from the wall and floats away. It then pops and the man is hurtled through space as if skydiving. Images that follow include the man holding hands in a circle with male figures some of which resemble animals; the man tackling a sheep-like creature with a human face and rubbing his nose into his fleece; the man rolling down a hill over a long line of elderly men who rub the back of his head. Throughout these surreal sequences, we return to the queue and evently the doctor himself turns his head to look at the hole in the wall. After he does this, the doctor leaves the queue and tackles the man who had gone into the wall and gives him his glasses and before entering the hole himself. The film ends with the younger man now playing the role of doctor and examining noses. The final image is of this new doctor looking towards the hole in the wall and blinking.

Like Wada’s film A Manipulated Man (2006), which I mentioned briefly in my review of Tokyo Loop, this film seems to be a critique of the societal pressures on men in contemporary Japanese society. The theme of repetition of action in the waiting room scenes mimic the repetitiousness of the salaryman’s working life. The surreal scenes from the world inside the wall suggest deep-seated needs on the part of the salaryman for comfort (the sheep, the nose rubbing and back of head rubbing), individuality with a group (the circle of figures), and encouragement from the generation that has gone before. The sheep of course, is an important repeated metaphor in Wada’s work which I think symbolizes the herd-like mentality of the salaryman culture.

Brief cutaway to a man patting a boy on the head fondly.

For me the image that had the strongest impact occurred during the surreal scene when the man rolls down a hill overtop of the line of elderly men getting the back of his head rubbed and rubbing his nose into the shirt of each elderly man. There is a brief cutaway to an elderly man patting a young boy on the head. In Japanese culture where bodily contact such as hugs and kisses come with much less frequency than in the culture that I grew up in, this patting of the head as a sign of affection and encouragement has always seemed to have a great emotional significance.

I find that during a Wada film, my senses are always heightened.  In this film, obviously the nose is foregrounded as a symbol.  His sparing use of sound means that what we hear makes a great impact on the senses.  Sounds like breathing, panting, shuffling, all emphasize actions that would normally be very subtle in a film.  The heightened awareness extends to Wada's use of space which is also sparing and uncluttered.

With each frame carefully hand drawn by Wada and a minimalist, very deliberate soundtrack, I find that each time I watch this film I notice a new detail that increases my understanding of it. It is the kind of film where I think that each spectator would bring their own experiences into their analysis of it. I would love to hear from others who have seen this film – or other films by Wada – to hear your impressions of this unique, endlessly fascinating artist.

Atsushi Wada’s works will be available on DVD from CALF  (JP/EN) as of October.

Wada's official website (JP)

His film A Manipulated Man is available on Tokyo Loop:

Tokyo Loop

Related articles:
Kei Oyama's Hand Soap
Image Forum's Tokyo Loop
Maya Yonesho
The ultimate poetic animation: Kawamoto's Winter Days

Renku Animation "Fuyu no Hi"

Animation

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010