Japan Cuts ’20: Tora-san, Wish You Were Here

Even though he had plenty of heartache, Tora-san never really grew up. However, Japan watched as his family matured and came of age. Twenty-three years after the death of the beloved star, Kiyoshi Atsumi, longtime director Yoji Yamada reunited his surviving cast for the 50^th Tora-san film, the moving tribute, Tora-san, Wish You Were Here, which screens as part of the Japan Society’s Japan Cuts Festival of New Japanese Film (all virtual this year).

Tora-san has been gone for many years now, but he still exerts an influence over his family, especially his beloved nephew, Mitsuo Suwa. The film starts with a memorial service to Suwa’s late wife, but it is really an elegy for Tora-san. For several years, Suwa has cared for his teenaged daughter Yuri, as a single father, but he is also just beginning to realize his ambition to be a novelist. Yet, recently he has been flooded with dream and memories of his high school love, Izumi Bruna. Tora-san knew her pretty well—and most definitely approved.

Of course, he is delighted when she happens to appear at his book signing. As luck would have it, the married Bruna has returned to Japan briefly for the UN and some family business. There is definitely a bit of the old spark between them, but he refuses to burden her with his own tragedies. He is his uncle’s nephew, after all.

Throughout Wish You Were Here, Yamada flashes back to important scenes from the previous Tora-san films. However, this is not a cobbled together clip package, like On the Trail of the Pink Panther or certain disappointing series finales (that means you, Seinfeld). The Kuruma and Suwa families’ lives have gone on, so their stories continue here. In fact, Suwa’s reunion with Bruna is quite touching, in a wistful, Brief Encounter kind of way.

Along the way, characters regularly ask, WWTSD? What would Tora-san do? However, that does not always mean it is the right thing to do—sometimes quite the contrary. Indeed, one of the film’s most heartbreaking moment revisits the time Tora-san was too timid to grab the love he had always yearned for.

Yamada shrewdly selects clips that showcase Atsumi’s flair for comedic delivery, as well as his sensitivity as an actor. He really made Tora-san the insecure but lovable slacker, who became like family to his Japanese fans.

Japan Cuts ’20: Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp

His full name is Torajiro Kuruma, but everyone calls him just plain Tora-san. After forty-nine films, Japanese fans felt like he was a member of the family. Technically, the movie franchise reincarnated him. Tora-san originally premiered in a one-season TV series that outraged viewers by killing him off in the final episode. Yoji Yamada never made that mistake. He would helm Kiyoshi Atsumi in all but two Tora-san films, starting with the original, Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp (a.k.a. It’s Hard to Be a Man), which screens as part of the Tora-san sidebar celebration during the Japan Society’s Japan Cuts Festival of New Japanese Film (all virtual this year).

Tora-san always fought with his father, so he left home early and never came back. However, he has started feeling sentimental, so he decided to return home. His kid sister Sakura is all grown up now, but she still lives with their aunt and uncle, because her marriage prospects are limited without a dowry. In fact, Tora-san comes home just in time to spoil a potential marriage negotiation arranged by her employer.

Poor Tora-san will never master the art of courtship. However, this will be the first time he tries to romance a woman on his own behalf, when he starts putting the moves on Fuyuko Tsubouchi, the daughter of Gozensama, the temple priest. She is way out of his league, but there might be hope yet for Sakura.

A Tora-san statue has been erected in the Shibamata district of Tokyo, where the films are set—and appropriately so. Starting with Tramp, the films lovingly capture the rhythms of life blue collar, lower-middle class neighborhood. Everyone works hard and does the best they can there, even Tora-san.

Despite the cliched description of Tora-san as a “lovable loser,” Atsumi’s portrayal is much subtler than you might expect. He is a bit of an idiot, but he has heart and we definitely feel for him when it is broken. There is no question Atsumi was the sort of clown who could also make viewers cry. Indeed, it is rather sweet to watch his sibling chemistry with Chieko Baisho, who portrays Sakura with wonderful sensitivity. As a result, it is easy to see why Yamada had her return in many subsequent Tora-san films.

Japan Cuts ’15: Nagasaki: Memories of My Son

During WWII, Kokura was a major center of munitions production, but it dodged the mother of all bullets twice. It was the back-up target for Hiroshima and the primary target for the mission that ultimately switched to the secondary target of Nagasaki. That was profoundly tragic news for Nobuko Fukuhara. She would survive, but her son Koji was incinerated without a trace. Three years later, she will try to move on with a little help from his ghost in Yoji Yamada’s Nagasaki: Memories of My Son (a.k.a. Living with My Mother, trailer here), which screens during this year’s Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film in New York.

Fukuhara’s husband was never a factor and her eldest son was killed in combat, but she soldiered on well enough, because Koji was truly the apple of her eye. As a medical student, he had a draft deferment, which seemed fortunate at the time, but his medical college was pretty much dead center in the blast radius. It was hard for Fukuhara to let go, but she finally gives up her last false hopes during his three-year memorial ceremony. Yet, that was exactly what was needed to allow Koji’s spirit to approach her.

It is clearly a bittersweet reunion, but it definitely provides Fukuhara some solace. However, his still grieving fiancée Machiko Sata is still not ready to move on and he is not ready to let go of her. Despite her mixed emotions, Mother Fukuhara will try to convince them both to release each other.

Frankly, Yamada is about the only filmmaker working today who can craft such an achingly sentimental drama without taking a single falsely melodramatic step. Clearly, Nagasaki is a natural companion film to Yamada’s Kabei: Our Mother, but somehow it manages to be less dark and more tragic.

Once again, Sayuri Yoshinaga quietly devastates us over and over again as Fukuhara, just as she did in Kabei. If anything, she is even sadder and more humane this time around. Kazunari Ninomiya is strangely chipper for a dead person, but he actually helps shake off the film’s inherent moroseness, dialing it down and locking-in when it matters. Haru Kuroki is also quite touching as Sata, developing some truly touching surrogate mother-daughter chemistry with Yoshinaga. To completely rip out our heartstrings, Kenichi Kato and Isao Hashizume add memorable poignancy as Yoshinaga’s discouraged black marketeer suitor and Koji’s even less fortunate professor, respectively.

Unlike Kabei, Nagasaki does not offer much explicit criticism of the Imperial war machine, but the grim costs of war are always obvious and inescapable. Although it earns major tears down the stretch, it is never a downer film. In fact, it is unusually warm and lovely. Highly recommended, Nagasaki: Memories of My Son screens this Sunday (7/17) at the Japan Society, as part of Japan Cuts 2016.

NYAFF ’16: What a Wonderful Family

He hasn’t quite reached the remarkable productivity of the late centenarian director Manoel de Oliveira, but octogenarian Yoji Yamada’s dependability is still pretty impressive. The Japanese filmmaker is still on a film per year schedule. He is clearly prolific, having helmed all but two of the ten thousand Tora-san films. Yamada even had the chutzpah to kind of-sort of remake Tokyo Story. Yamada continues to tip his hat towards Ozu’s masterpiece, but maintains a lightly comedic tone throughout What a Wonderful Family (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 New York Asian Film Festival.

If you were married to the gassy and slovenly Shuzo Hirata, you would probably want to divorce him too, so we can hardly blame the elegant Tomiko Hirata for finally saying enough is enough. Still, she might have better prepared him for the divorce papers she essentially blindsides him with. Old man Shuzo reacts by playing the victim, using his wife’s supposed abandonment to justify more boozing and grouchy grandpa behavior.

However, the rest of the household takes the potential divorce deathly seriously. Like old school shomin-gekis, the Hiratas are a large household—and possibly getting larger, but also maybe smaller. The eldest son Konosuke shares the house with his parents, his patient wife Fumie, their two bratty kids, and his younger brother Shota. Technically, Konosuke’s sister Shigeko Kanai moved out to live with her underwhelming husband Taizo, but it seems like they are always working out their marital problems in the Hiratas’ house. Of all days, Shota brings his fiancée Noriko Mamiya (note the name) to meet the family exactly when Fumie calls a meeting to discuss the proposed divorce. However, when things get chaotic, they will be happy to have the level-headed nurse there.

Wonderful acknowledges such great big family living arrangements are becoming increasingly uncommon in today’s Japan, but Yamada makes the Ozuian formula work in a contemporary context. He also brings back the cast of Tokyo Family, his Tokyo Story riff-reboot, like a repertory company, with Yu Aoi reprising the role of Mamiya. Stepping into Setsuko Hara’s shoes is a daunting proposition, but she is utterly charming and exquisitely sensitive as the modern day Noriko.

Isao Hashizume’s patriarch is a real handful, in a broadly comedic sort of way, but he shows a delicate touch in his big pay-off scene. Kazuko Yoshiyuki is a consistently warm, humanistic presence as Tomiko, while Satoshi Tsumabuki is surprisingly engaging as the somewhat socially awkward Shota. Technically, she is not family (except maybe to old Shuzo), but the classy Jun Fubuki really lights up the film as Kayo, the mature hostess of the old man’s favorite bar.

There is some shtickiness here and there, but when the Hiratas come together as a family, it really is touching. Yamada hits the right notes and keeps the vibe sweetly nostalgic, so when Gramps consoles himself with Tokyo Story, the film somehow manages to avoid unflattering comparisons. (Still, nothing truly compares to Ozu’s Noriko masterpieces). Recommended for general audiences who can appreciate its gentle old fashionedness, What a Wonderful Family screens tomorrow (6/26) at the Walter Reade, as part of this year’s NYAFF.

Japan Cuts ’10: About Her Brother

Tora-san, the traveling salesman and prodigal half-brother, was a comic staple of Japanese cinema from 1969 to 1995. All forty-eight films were scripted by Yoji Yamada, who also helmed all but two of them. Though much more serious in tone, it is hard not to recognize echoes of his beloved tramp in Yamada’s latest film, About Her Brother (trailer here), the closing film of the 60th Berlinale which also screens on the final night of this year’s Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Film.

Koharu is a child of the 1970’s, who directly references the Tora-san series in the film’s introduction. However, she has an old-fashioned name thanks to her mother Ginko’s brother, her crazy Uncle Tetsuro. Though Tetsuro tried to be a responsible brother and uncle shortly after the death of Koharu’s father, he just was not cut out for it. Disappearing for long periods of time, Tetsuro usually pops up unexpectedly at the most inopportune times, to make a drunken spectacle of himself. When his surprise appearance at Koharu’s wedding thoroughly mars the ceremony, his family officially cuts their ties. Yet, Ginko still finds herself cleaning up after her younger brother.

While Brother’s storyline is strictly Melodrama 101, Yamada is a remarkably sensitive director, finding the dignity within each character. Indeed, the fitting symmetry of its conclusion nicely redeems the occasionally overly weepy on-screen drama. Yet, it is the film’s powerful central performance that really holds it all together.

Reuniting with the star of his highly recommended historical drama Kabei: Our Mother (one of last year’s ten best films), Yamada again casts Sayuri Yoshinaga as a single mother coping with trying times. A warm and elegant screen presence, her understated performance is truly touching. As her ne’er do well brother Tetsuro, Tsurube Shofukutei is not exactly subtle, but he has some poignant moments with Yoshinaga. While the role might be a bit underwritten, the endearing Yū Aoi also conveys Koharu’s maturation quite effectively.

Though not as deep or rewarding as Yamada’s recent historical dramas, Brother is a refreshingly earnest and even wholesome family film. Portraying decent, hard-working people doing the best that they can (and also good old Tetsuro), Brother has real heart. It screens this Friday (7/16) at the Japan Society, as the 2010 Japan Cuts sadly comes to a close.