Which
is harder, running a printing business or maintaining a healthy relationship
with your sibling? Clearly, the former, because the Ikuno family print shop is
still a going concern. The bond between the Ikuno sisters is an entirely
different matter, but the Kanayama Brothers might be even more distant and
distrustful in Keisuke Yoshida’s Thicker
Than Water (trailer
here),
which screens during the 2018 Japan Cuts Festival of New Japanese Film.
Yuria
Ikuno is smart and hard-working, but she is also socially awkward and does not
at all conform to glamor magazine standards of beauty. Her sister Mako Ikuno is
cute, ditzy, and popular. She is also a bit of a slacker, both at home and at
work. Each resents the others’ attributes, so they have long waged a cold war
of snark and one-upmanship. Their latest battle will be fought over an unlikely
prize: their regular sub-contracting customer, nebbish Kazunari Kanayama.
Initially,
Kanayama can’t even recognize the interest directed at him. Of course, he has
long carried a torch for Mako, so it is no contest once she makes her overtures
sufficiently obvious. Unfortunately, she is a poor winner, who does everything possible
to stoke her sister’s jealousy. Kanayama also has a hard time enjoying the
moment, due to the angst caused by his bullying brother Takuji, an ex-con
recently released from prison.
Thicker is absolutely not
saccharine or sentimental, so it is nothing like a Japanese cousin to the old
Sela Ward Sisters TV show. The sibling
relationships in this film are already badly damaged and they are only getting
worse. Honestly, it is not at all certain whether they will be able to patch up
their differences.
In
her film debut, manzai stand-up comic Keiko Enoue is an extraordinary discovery
as Yuria. She is nakedly vulnerable, but also painfully self-loathing and
sometimes downright petty. Honestly, she and Miwako Kakei are perfect together as
Ikuno Sisters. Sometimes they make us feel for them acutely, while other times
we are appalled by their behavior, but they always come across as real
characters grounded in real-life, who inspire strong emotional reactions.
On
the other hand, Masataka Kubota (whose sad sack eyes are getting him type-cast
in films like Tokyo Ghoul) is such a
doormat as Kanayama, it is hard to get how either sister would be interested in
him. However, Hirofumi Arai takes the thuggish Takuji in some unexpectedly
interesting directions.
This
is a quiet, unassuming film, but it is often brutally honest. In many ways, it
serves as a contrary corrective to genteel Japanese domestic dramas from the likes
of Yoji Yamada and going all the way back to Yasujiro Shimazu, but it still
demonstrates the Japanese film industry’s continued mastery of the genre. Recommended
for viewing with friends rather than family, Thicker Than Water screens tomorrow afternoon (7/28), at the Japan
Society, as part of this year’s Japan Cuts.
