Penance, on OVID.tv

Asako Adachi is a mother worthy of Greek tragedy. When her daughter is murdered, she offers a grim choice to the girl’s four friends who saw, but could not identify her killer. Either spend their lives hunting for the murderer, or eventually accept a karmic retribution that she approves of. That is pretty heavy for elementary school students, so it is hardly shocking they all turn out to be emotionally damaged fifteen years later in Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s five-episode Penance, which premieres today on OVID.tv.

For some reason, the killer deliberately chose Emili from her group of friends, when he approached them on a pretext. They all had a perfect view of him, yet they all insist they cannot remember his face. Fifteen years later, their bill of penance starts to come due, but it is not necessarily Adachi who will collect. Somehow fate, karma, circumstances, and their own bad choices and character flaws will precipitate crises for all four survivors. Although they each have very different personalities and perspectives on that fateful day, they all contact Adachi as they find themselves facing personal disaster.

In some ways, shy Sae Kikuchi never fully matured, so she married a profoundly flawed control-freak husband. Maki Shinohara became a strict martinet high school teacher, who feels compelled to enforce rules without exception. Akiko Takano is a borderline hikikomori with family issues that are about to get much worse. Likewise, Yuka Ogawa has an extreme case of sibling rivalry, as well as a weird cop fetish, born out of that horrific experience.

What really makes Penance so intriguing is Kyoko Koizumi’s haunting performance as Adachi. Instead of a ruthless Medea-like vengeful mother, she is not without sympathy for the four young women. In fact, she even offers them help, at times. Yet, her eyes are always obsessively on the prize of just payback. As a result, Koizumi’s work as Adachi is cool and detached, but weirdly easy to identify with and root for.

Yu Aoi, Eiko Koike, Sakura Ando and Chizuru Ikewaki all create radically different personas as the four grown women, but they are all fully developed, with no shortage of flaws and weaknesses. Together, they demonstrate the perverse and lingering effects of trauma. Shinohara’s story is possibly the richest, because it clearly offers extensive commentaries on the compulsive face-saving and CYA-ing of the Japanese educational system, which in turn is a proxy for society at large. Takano’s is probably the weakest, because it is pretty easy to predict where it goes.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy

In 1940s Showa era Japan, wives were expected to be loyal to their husbands, but everyone was supposed to obediently serve the state. Consequently, Satoko Fukuhara finds herself feeling conflicted when she suspects her husband of conspiring against the militarist government in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy, which opens today in New York.

Yusaku Fukuhara owns a prosperous trading company. That means he has always been a good provider, but it also brings him into contact with foreigners, like his American customer, Mr. Drummond, who will be expelled from the country after spending an inhospitable night with the police. Clearly, the significance of the incident registers more with Fukuhara than his wife. Shortly thereafter, Fukuhara leaves for Manchuria with his nephew Fumio Takeshita, hoping to find business opportunities. Instead, they witness wholesale atrocities.

Meanwhile, Satoko Fukuhara’s old torch-carrying school friend Yasuharu “Taiji” Tsumori starts nosing around. He returned to Kobe as an extremely rigid police intelligence officer. Tsumori was already predisposed to dislike her husband, even before his investigations turn up reasons to suspect the trader/traitor. However, he hopes she will be a different case entirely. Indeed, the question of just where her loyalties and motivations lay is what this film is all about.

Wife is part thriller, part tragedy, and part historical indictment. In terms of genre, it represents a departure for Kurosawa, but the tone of restrained, almost suffocating foreboding is not unlike some of his finer horror films. It is not exactly a classic nail-biter, but there are several shocking developments.

Yu Aoi, who has been something like Japan’s national sweetheart after emerging as a child-star, is instrumental to this film’s success. She looks innocent, but she can certainly surprise viewers. Ultimately, she takes her character to some very dark places, especially during the third act. Similar praise goes to Issey Takashi playing her husband. These are two very intriguing performances, because they convince us both spouses are smarter and more complicated than they appear.

Fantasia ’18: Penguin Highway

When scores of penguins suddenly appear in this rural Japanese village, it is a little like Magnolia, but exponentially cuter. In fact, these penguins might just save our word as we know it, but until then, they are quite charming to have around in Hiroyasu Ishida’s Penguin Highway (trailer here), which won the Satoshi Kon Award at the 2018 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Aoyama is a reasonably well-socialized fourth grader, considering how smart he is. Nevertheless, the compulsively-experimenting science whiz is already looking forward to his future success. When “waddles” of penguins start waddling through his baffled town—way outsides their natural habitat, obviously—Aoyama is the first to start formulating hypotheses. Of course, that means he starts researching in the field, with the help of his loyal pal Uchida. However, he is also rather interested in the mysterious woman now working at the local dentist, whom he gallantly refers to as “The Lady.”

She is smart and has attitude, as well as other things a boy on the verge of puberty might notice (she is voiced by Yû Aoi, after all). Aoyama realizes he can learn a lot from her just from their conversations and chess games. However, his interest in her rises to a higher level when he realizes she apparently has a mysterious connection to the penguins. As if that were not enough, Aoyama and Uchida also help their classmate Hamamoto investigate a phenomenon that pretty clearly holds cosmic significance. Hamamoto is also quite the junior scientist, which is probably why she has a crush on Aoyama.

Highway is surprisingly intriguing as science fiction, warmly endearing as a coming of age story, and it is just the living end as a penguin fantasy. Despite the borderline Summer of ’42 relationship between Aoyama and the Lady, the film has a lot to offer family viewers, including lessons on the scientific method and the depiction of two fathers who are smart and engaged parents (Aoyama and Hamamoto’s dads). Plus, there are all those fun-loving penguins.

The animation (with character design work from Yojiro Arai) is visually quite lovely, but it is the film’s bittersweet vibe that really stick with you. The trappings are contemporary, but narrative has a timeless element to it. When you get right down to it, it would be ever so nice to stroll through this burg in the foothills, with a dozen penguins for company.

To his credit, Makoto Ueda never dumbs down his screen adaptation of Tomihiko Morimi’s source novel. There is some clever stuff in here and the stakes get planetary in scope. Yet, it still faithfully evokes all the optimism and confusion of young adolescence—with penguins. This film is just a total winner that is just too good for American anime fans to miss out on. Very enthusiastically recommended, Penguin Highway had its international premiere at this year’s Fantasia.

Tokyo Ghoul: The Flesh-Eating Superhero

They are not as sexy as vampires, but they have more individual agency and consciousness than zombies. Yet, they all share the same basic food source: people. Ghouls look a bit ghoulish around the eyes, but they can usually pass for human with a little touching up. However, when their koukaku tentacle weapons release under stress, they are quite a terrifying sight. It is all very confusing for Ken Kaneki, who was recently transformed into a ghoul by an organ transplant. Feeding will be an issue for him, but at least his ilk can still enjoy a nice cup of coffee in Kentaro Hagiwara’s live action adaptation of Tokyo Ghoul (trailer here), which releases today on DVD and BluRay.

In retrospect, Kaneki probably should have been suspicious when his crush suddenly demonstrated multiple common interests and agreed to a date. Not surprisingly, she is really a ghoul named Rize Kamishiro. Ordinarily, she would have feasted on him, but when she is crushed by a freak scaffolding collapse, an over-eager surgeon creates more complications than he realizes by transplanting her organs into the badly battered Kaneki.

As he recuperates, he is rather shocked to find he can no longer stomach traditional food. Fortunately, the good ghouls of Anteiku (you could say they subsist on road kill), the ghoul-managed coffee shop and mutual aid society take him under their wing—well, most of them do. Toka Kirishima is not very welcoming, but she will be the perfect tutor in ghoul self-defense when the over-zealous anti-ghoul Men-in-Black start hunting Anteiku’s most vulnerable members.

Tokyo Ghoul shares some common elements with a number of vampire franchises, like Underworld and Lestat, but the ghouls are by their very nature more brutal and instinctive. Yet, Hagiara and screenwriter Ichiro Kusuno clearly suggest many of the ghouls (such as Kaneki, the twelve-year-old Hinami Fueguchi, and Anteiki patriarch Kuzen Yoshimura) are more human than fanatics like Agent Kureo Mado, who has the sleepy eyes and stringy hair of Kill Bill-era David Carradine. Hagiwara also capitalizes on the manga franchise’s extensive world-building, in which the existence ghouls is generally public knowledge, but widely ignored by the see-no-evil populace, sort of like terrorism in our world.

Masataka Kubota is appropriately nebbish and high-strung as Kaneki, while Fumika Shimizu is impressively fierce as Shimzu. This is a good film for villains, with Yu Aoi (Japan’s national sweetheart and former Little Orphan Annie) wonderfully playing against type as the flamboyantly sinister Kamishiro and Yo Oizumi chewing the scenery with sleazy relish as Mado. However, Shoko Aida proves you can still do serious work in a gory urban fantasy with her heartbreaking turn as Royko Fueguchi, Hinami’s devoted mother.

Apparently, the source manga takes the long-term narrative in such radically different directions, franchise fans will probably find this return to the origin-story rather nostalgic. In any event, discerning monster movie viewers will appreciate the first-class effects and its dark sensibility (this isn’t Twilight, kids). Recommended for fans of the franchise and anyone in the mood for an evil cousin to the modern superhero movie, Tokyo Ghoul releases today on DVD and BluRay.

NYAFF ’17: Japanese Girls Never Die

Kilroy will be personified again, but instead of another ill-conceived Catch-22 sequel, it is two deadbeat Japanese taggers who have assumed the famous graffiti moniker. They are about to go viral for their use of a missing woman’s “wanted” poster. Is this the final appropriation of her dignity or are they keeping hope and her memory alive? To answer that question, we will flash forward and backwards through episodes of Haruko Azumi’s life in Daigo Matsui’s Japanese Girls Never Die (a.k.a. Haruko Azumi is Missing, trailer here), which screens during this year’s New York Asian Film Festival.

Azumi life is rather thankless. She works as an “Office Lady” for two Mutt and Jeff sexists and lives at home with her parents, who basically consider her their errand girl. When she runs across a former classmate living in her neighborhood, she quickly develops a romantic attachment, but Shoga the slacker is not worth her unrequited ardor. Inevitably, he two-times her with yet another former classmate. Indeed, class ties are a form of social destiny in Never Die.

In short, Azumi is rather entitled to feel resentful. However, it seems she is not the only one who feels this way. During the months leading up to her disappearance and the two years after, a gang of uniformed high school girls, led by the mysterious JK, has been stalking and beating unenlightened male pigs. In fact, we will see some of the everyday villains of the film get their painful comeuppance at their hands (and feet). Sadly, Yukio and Manabu, the taggers behind the exploitation of Azumi’s image probably are not on the side of the angels either, especially when it comes to their treatment of their third accomplice, Aina Kinami, whose desperate need for affection makes her easy to take advantage of.

There is a powerful film buried inside Never Die, but the constant skittering forward and back along the narrative time frame actually undercuts its potency. Arguably, it would be more effective to see the tragedies unfold and connections get made in a deliberate step-by-step fashion. It is also hard not to wonder what the film would have been like in the hands of a stylist like Tetsuya Nakashima. Thematically, it is dead-solidly in his wheel house, alongside Memories of Matsuko and Kamikaze Girls. Matsui, who previously helmed Wonderful World End, clearly has an affinity for youthful angst, but he does not have the bravura visual sensibility the material cries out for.

Nevertheless, Yu Aoi is so breathtakingly perfect as Azumi, not even the most heavy-handed director could undermine her portrayal. It is a heartbreaking turn, in large part because she never asks for or expects the least bit of sympathy. The irony of the former teen sensation so convincingly playing Azumi, the desperate thirtysomething, layers on further resonance. She defines and dominates the film, but Mitsuki Takahata is also quite poignant as the too cute Kinami.

Despite its ADD, Never Die really lowers the emotional boom down the stretch. To his credit, Matsui’s anger and empathy are palpable, which makes the film’s periodic grace notes so redemptive. Admittedly ragged along the edges, Japanese Girls Never Die is still recommended on balance for its passion and Yu Aoi’s remarkable performance when it screens this Sunday (7/2), at the Walter Reade, as part of the 2017 NYAFF.

Rurouni Kenshin: Origins

The Meiji Restoration brought stability, modernization, and westernization to Japan. That was good news if you wanted to quietly work and raise a family, but bad for business if you were a super-villain. Hitokiri Battosai was the exception who proved the rule. He did his duty as a cold-blooded killsword to hasten in the new era, but renounced his old violent ways once the Shogunate fell. However, he might have to break his vow to protect the innocent in Keishi Ohtomo’s Rurouni Kenshin Part 1: Origins (trailer here), which releases today in a DVD/BluRay collector pack, from Funimation.

Kenshin Himura’s backstory will be teased out over the course of the full live-action trilogy, but Origins establishes who he is right now and how he fell in with the friends who stand by him throughout the chaotic events of Kyoto Inferno and The Legends Ends. As Origins opens, a rogue killer is further besmirching the Battosai name, by impersonating the killsword while committing a series of murders. He also falsely claims to adhere to the “life-affirming” style of martial arts taught by Kaoru Kamiya’s late father. After a bit of miscommunication, Himura and Kamiya will team up together to clear their respective reputations.

Things will get even more awkward when the mysterious Megumi Takani also takes refuge at the Kamiya family dojo. However, her medical skills will come in handy. She has fled from Kanryu Takeda, an opium smuggler determined to undermine the Meiji government, who forced her to concoct especially addictive designer drugs. The spacey but flamboyant drug lord has made common cause with several former samurai, who also wish to return to the old days of warlordism. However, Himura’s old nemesis, Hajime Saito has opted for law and order, so he now serves the new government in a similar, hard-charging capacity. Yet, just like the sinister assassin Udo Jine, Saito is determined to push Himura back into the killing business.

Of the three films, Origins most easily stands on its own. It also gives significant screen time to Takani, which helps explain why a major star liked Yu Aoi occasionally drops into the second two films to offer a bit of sage advice or bandage a wound. She is terrific as Takani, wringing all kinds of intrigue and dignity out of the mysterious role. Takeru Satoh and Emi Takei notably start to develop the subtle chemistry that will be so appealing as the trilogy progresses. Yosuke Eguchi also already starts to steal scenes as the flinty Saito. Teruyuki Kagawa is bizarrely weird as Takeda, but that is a good thing. Likewise, Koji Kikkawa is appropriately menacing as Jine. When he and Himura finally face-off, it does not disappoint.

The live action trilogy clearly demonstrates why the manga series had such a long run. The swordplay (skillfully directed by Kenji Tanigaki) is spectacular, but the characters and their relationships really keep you hooked. You can see it coming together right from the start of Origins. Very highly recommended for martial arts and manga fans, Rurouni Kenshin Part 1: Origins is now available on DVD/BluRay from Funimation.

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.

Fantasia ’15: The Case of Hana & Alice

Ever wondered how Cher and Dionne first met, before the events of Clueless (marking its 20 year anniversary this year)? If Amy Heckerling made an animated prequel, she could still use the voices of Stacey Dash and Alicia Silverstone. She would be following the example of Shunji Iwai, who revisited the characters of his more impressionistic indie Hana and Alice (going on eleven years) in anime form. Junior high is a strange place, but when the two girls join forces they just might make some sense of it all in Iwai’s The Case of Hana & Alice (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Thanks to divorce and family drama, Tetsuko “Alice” Arisugawa has a new home, a new name, and a new school. She now attends Ishinomori Middle School, but the strange hikikomorish girl across the street does not, even though they are roughly the same age. Of course, that would be Hana Arai.

Initially, Arisugawa faces some attempted bullying, but she puts a stop to that pretty quick. Bizarrely, some of it comes from where she sits in class. According to the school legend, a senior named Judas sat there the previous year, but he was murdered by his four “wives.” It makes little sense to her. Nevertheless, her classmates shun her desk like the Amityville Horror house. Eventually, Arisugawa learns she is also living in the previous home of Yuda (a.k.a. Judas). Creeped out by her proximity to so much presumed tragedy, she confronts Arai for information.

For a coming of age drama, Case has considerably more genre elements than you would ever expect, but that is a good thing for Fantasia audiences. The explanation behind the Judas legend is quite clever and darned satisfying. Along the way, Iwai creates some wonderfully compassionate moments, especially Arisugawa’s scenes with the elderly man she mistakes for Yuda’s father. There is indeed a good deal of heart in the film.

The downside is the CGI and roto-scoped animated is just okay, but it never distracts from the elegantly mysterious narrative. Fans of the original Hana and Alice will be delighted to hear Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki giving voice to their beloved characters. Aoi is particularly expressive and energizing as Arisugawa, while the introverted Arai mostly requires husky mumbling from Suzuki.

Case is thoroughly enjoyable, even for viewers who have not seen the first live action film. In terms of pacing and tone, they are apples and oranges, but both remind you of what it was like to be a kid in school. Great fun throughout, with a sly sense of irony, The Case of Hana and Alice is highly recommended for animation fans and anyone who enjoys a good student drama when it screens today (7/19) as part of this year’s Fantasia.