Tourism Hokkaido “City” (TOURISM HOKKAIDO「街」, 2010)

I guess the idiom “if pigs could fly” must have a different meaning in Chinese and Japanese.  A Chinese student Shu Yi is enjoying her last day in Sapporo, Hokkaido.  While touring the sites of the city (Odori Park, the TV tower, the Clock Tower) she ends up in the famed Tanuki Koji shopping arcade.  There she encounters a young Chinese man named Guo Fu who has just begun his studies at Hokkaido University.   He is bowled over by Shu Yi’s charm and gives her a present of a figurine of a pig with wings, telling her that the pig is a symbol of good luck and the wings symbolize freedom.  Shu Yi finds this charming and insists that Shu Yi join her in her final tour of Sapporo.

At the end of what must have been an exhausting day (they trek everywhere from Sapporo Factory to Maruyama Park), the two part ways, with Shu Yi being coy about them ever seeing each other again.  Guo Fu invites her to come and meet him on the banks of the canal in the neighbouring city of Otaru, so that he can show her the town where he lives.  One day, Shu Yi does show up and they have a whirlwind tour of the sights of Otaru from the Otaru Taisho Glass Palace to the Asahi Observatory.  It seems like an idealistic whirlwind romance, but maybe Guo Fu should have investigated the English meaning of a pig with wings.

Yosuke Yamaguchi’s Tourism Hokkaido “City” (2010) won the Best Short Award at the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia.  The film was a part of the “Let’s Travel! Project” supported by the Japan Tourism Agency.  This contest encouraged filmmakers to submit short films that show off the rich and diverse cultural attractions that Japan has to offer tourists.  Unlike Heaven’s Island (2010), which showed off Taketomi Island in Okinawa without feeling like a promotional film, Tourism Hokkaido “City” is pretty cheesy and spends much more time acting as a postcard for Sapporo and Otaru than it does on developing the characters of Shu Yi and Guo Fu.  I only enjoyed the film because it was a natsukashii experience for me as I have a soft spot for Sapporo and environs because of the good times I have had there.

You can watch the trailer for this film here.

This film screened at Japan Week, Frankfurt am Main on November 5, 2011.

The event was sponsored by Nippon Connection:

Heaven’s Island (青春マンダラー, 2010)

In 2009, the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2010 and the Japan Tourism Agency sponsored a competition called “Let’s Travel Project” which encouraged filmmakers to submit short films that show off the rich and diverse cultural attractions that Japan has to offer tourists. The 14 minute film Heaven’s Island (青春マンダラー/Seishun Mandala, 2010) directed by Naoko Shimada was one of 13 films selected from 71 entries.  The film features Taketomi Island in Okinawa.

Cousins Satoshi (Shuji Kashiwabara) and Miki (Rina Chinen) are heading back to Taketomi Island for the Mandala celebration in honour of their grandmother’s 97^th birthday.  Upon their arrival, they learn that their grandmother has died suddenly, throwing the plans for the Mandala festival into chaos.  At the memorial service, a recording of the late woman is played in which she embarrasses Satoshi and Miki by reacing out from beyond the grave to  play interfering matchmaker with the two of them.

After the funeral, Miki discovers her grandmother’s diary and reading it is shocked to learn that the elderly woman was carrying on an affair with someone who had left the island and was due to return to for the Mandala celebration.  Miki and Satoshi are determined to find out the man's identity.  They narrow down their search to three possible candidates: Mr. Shigemori, Mr. Tomori, and Mr. Kinjo.  Once the detective work begins, hilarity ensues.

Heaven’s Island is a rip-roaring romantic comedy with a dash of detective story thrown in for good measure.  Naoko Shimada is a very able director who sets a fast tempo for the comedy through her editing and use of engaging, and often amusing, camera angles.  The film does successfully show off Taketomi as an appealing destination for travel, and does so without seeming like a commercial.  The characters are endearing and the story amusing - the premise would be equally suitable material for a feature-length film.  Check out the trailer here.

This film screened at Japan Week, Frankfurt am Main on November 5, 2011.

The event was sponsored by Nippon Connection:

Yellow Kid (イエローキッド, 2010)

The original Yellow Kid was a popular American comic strip character from the end of the 19^th century, appearing in Richard F. Outcault’s Hogan’s Alley.  A strange looking child shaved bald (a measure against head lice) with big ears, buck teeth, and dressed in a hand-me-down yellow nightdress, the Yellow Kid was the unlikely hero of the lower classes in Outcault’s biting satire of urban American life. 

Outcault's original 19th century Yellow Kid

The conceit of Tetsuya Mariko’s film Yellow Kid (イエローキッド, 2010), is that 100 years after Outcault stopped drawing the Yellow Kid, a Japanese manga-ka named Hattori (Ryo Iwase) published his own version of the Yellow Kid under the pseudonym Iga Taro in which a down-and-out street kid transforms himself into a powerful boxer.   Just as the original comic strip colourfully incorporated images and ideas from American pop culture such as advertising signs and vaudeville, Mariko’s film blends live action drama with colourful illustrations from the Yellow Kid manga which the director drew himself.

The central character, Shiro Tamura (Kaname Endo), has little going for him in life.  Orphaned at a young age, his grandfather took charge of his upbringing until he also passed away.  Unable to hold down a job, Tamura lives in a decrepit house with his senile grandmother and tries to get by on her meagre pension.  Inspired by Hattori’s manga, Tamura clings to the one ray of hope in his life: training at the local boxing club.

When Hattori comes to the boxing club in search of inspiration for a sequel to Yellow Kid, it gives Tamura new hope that he can make something of himself.  The boxer who had inspired Hattori in his earlier work, Mikuni (Kazuki Namioka), is not only no longer boxing but also living with Hattori’s ex-girlfriend Mana (Mari Machida).  He eventually settles on Tamura as his new model for the Yellow Kid, but Tamura’s fragile mental state is pushed to its limits by the thug Emoto (Hideki Tamai) and the line between what is real and what is not real begins to blur.

Yellow Kid explores the world of people on the verge of falling between the cracks.  Directionless kids with no family support.  Elderly people without appropriate nursing care.  Disasters just waiting to happen.  Although there is little cheer in this film, it is strangely compelling due in a large part to the terrific performances of the actors and the fascinating colour palette of the film which mimics the vibrant hues of the manga and associates certain colours with certain characters (Tamura/yellow, Hattori/red, etc.).  The tension simmering in Tamura slowly builds throughout the film and explodes in a final half hour that is not for the faint of heart.  It’s quite impressive for a debut feature film, and promises more good things to come from Tetsuya Mariko.

Check out Tom Mes of Midnight Eye interviewing Tetsuya Mariko about Yellow Kid at the IFFR 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxK8NlNSWTs

Director:

Tetsuya Mariko

Starring:

Shiro Tamura (Kaname Endo)

Hattori (Ryo Iwase)

Mana (Mari Machida)

Mikuni (Kazuki Namioka)

Emoto (Hideki Tamai)

Boxing club owner (Denden)

This film screened at Japan Week, Frankfurt am Main on November 5, 2011.

The event was sponsored by Nippon Connection:

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011