Day: April 18, 2013

By Joe Bendel. Judging solely on the American drive-by media’s coverage, one would assume Japan was nothing but a glowing wasteland after the March 11th earthquake and subsequent nuclear emergency. In contrast, the Japanese media was evidently restrained to a fault, leaving a vacuum for rumor, fear, and denial to run rampant. Rather than the all too familiar images of devastation, Nobuteru Uchida focuses on the messy uncertainties of the aftermath in Odayaka, which screens during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

When the quake hit, Saeko’s husband Noboru was typically nowhere to be found. When he finally shows up, it is only to announce he is abandoning her and their daughter Kiyomi. Next door, Yukako’s husband Tatsuya also arrives well after the fact, having been toiling in his office, as per usual. Despite the government’s unconvincing assurances, both women become deeply concerned about Fukushima’s radiation. As neighbors and acquaintances belittle their worries, Saeko and Yukako agitation steadily increases. Saeko’s stress is understandably amplified by her husband’s desertion. Likewise, a recent painful episode Yukako and Tatsuya never properly dealt with acerbates her anxiety.

Filmed in a deliberately lo-fi, no frills style, Odayaka’s “you are there” vibe is often a genuinely uncomfortable to experience. This is no canned, made-for-TV movie building to a cheap triumph over adversity. Uchida portrays the emotional damage done to his characters in a relentlessly intimate fashion.Odayaka is a quiet film, but it stings.

Nonetheless, along with Chen’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, Odayaka lends this year’s festival some major star power. It might be hard to believe anyone could walk out on Kiki Sugino, the darling of Japanese indie cinema (often dubbed Japan’s Parker Posey), but she is truly devastating as Saeko. Always convincing and never overly showy, her portrayal of a mother coming apart at the seams is absolutely harrowing.

Likewise, Yukiko Shinohara plums some dark places as the distressed Yukako. In a way, it is a much more off-putting part. However, she truly lowers the film’s dramatic boom in key sequences down the stretch. Ami Watanabe’s Kiyoshi is also remarkably affecting and natural in scenes that might well be confusing for a young child. Indeed, Odayaka boasts a strong supporting cast from stem to stern, especially Makiko Watanabe, who becomes the face of rigid Japanese social conformity as the queen bee mother at Kiyoshi’s nursery school.

Odayaka is packed with scenes that resonate acutely. When Uchida holds up a mirror to Japanese society, it is not always pretty. Yet, Odayaka is a profoundly humanistic film, anchored by Sugino’s unforgettable work. Recommended for those who appreciate a tough human drama, Odayaka screens today (4/18), this Saturday (4/20), Wednesday (4/24), and next Saturday (4/27) as a Viewpoints selection of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on April 18th, 2013 at 11:28am.

By Joe Bendel. Compared to its neighbors, Taiwan is quite tolerant of its GLTB citizens. Communist China not so much. Nonetheless, the gay marriage debate has yet to reach Taipei. To start a family, one middle-aged man went back into the closet, yet events cause him to question that decision in Arvin Chen’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?, which screens during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

It is hard to imagine Weichung hitting the club scene. The straight-laced optometrist is almost painfully reserved. He is a good father, though, and a dutiful husband. He thought he had buried his past, but much to his surprise, Stephen, one of his flamboyant former club buddies, is his sister Mandy’s wedding photographer. At least, he was supposed to be. During the rehearsal dinner, Mandy kind of loses it, calling off the wedding soon thereafter. Having reawakened Weichung’s memories of his younger, freer days, Stephen starts counseling Mandy’s nebbish jilted fiancé, while Weichung starts a tentative flirtation with a flight attendant customer.

Weichung might be finding himself, but he still has a wife likely to consider his actions a deep emotional betrayal. In fact, the relationship between him and Feng constitutes the guts of the film. To his credit, Chen does not take any easy outs. Feng is no shrew. In fact, she is played by Mavis Fan and happens to be a good mother and responsible bread-winner. All of which make things complicated both for the characters and viewers’ emotional responses.

Fan, the Taiwanese popstar successfully transitioning to the big screen, will be most familiar to American audiences from Tsui Hark’s all kinds of cool Flying Swords of Dragon Gate. She still has a cute screen presence, but the acute sensitivity and down-to-earth sensibilities she brings to bear as Feng are quite impressive. Johnnie To regular Richie Jen will also surprise viewers as the convincingly conflicted Weichung. Unfortunately, Lawrence Ko’s Stephen and his cronies are mostly shticky caricatures.

This is not a didactic message movie. Chen resists the Glee-like temptation to lecture his audience on tolerance, but he understandably spotlights Fan in a karaoke number, thereby boosting Tomorrow’s domestic commercial appeal. Like most of the film, it is actually quite well staged. While a few more broadly comic scenes fall flat, the film and its characters are surprisingly endearing, getting a nice assist from Hsu Wen’s lush, unabashedly sentimental score. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow is not a towering cinematic experience, but it is extremely likable. Recommended for fans of Eat Drink Man Woman, it screens tomorrow (4/19), Saturday (4/20), Sunday (4/21), and next Thursday (4/25) during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on April 18th, 2013 at 11:27am.