The
Vietnam War is winding down, which some would say is good news, but not
necessarily on Okinawa. The separatist rebels should be pleased, but they have
been quiet lately. The snakes in the jungle are as deadly as ever, but the
greatest danger is losing one’s soul to the rainbow pigs secretly marauding
through the rain forest. On paper, it looks like absolutely bedlam, but for the
most part, the days are pleasantly languid in Go Takamine’s Paradise View, which screens
tomorrow as part of the Japan Society’s Monthly Classics series.
Okinawan
is spoken throughout Paradise, making
it one of the few Japanese films that required Japanese subtitles when it
opened domestically. Like the periodic Welsh language film produced in the UK,
it was intended as an act of Okinawan cultural affirmation and defiance. Yet,
it is hard to imagine getting too worked up in this island village. Granted,
nobody is happy per se, but the heat and the spirit-infested air have an
anesthetizing effect. Goya Reishu is a case in point. He was once a busy
musician working the American military bases, but now he just lays about,
gluing teeny-tiny numbers on the ants that fascinate him.
On
this island, outsiders like the ethnic Japanese botanist Ito, are almost
considered foreigners, even though the Japanese government is about to reassert
political control of the island. However, he is still a good catch, at least
according to Nabee’s mother, who happily arranges their marriage. Unfortunately,
all her plans come crashing down when she deduces Nabee is pregnant with Goya’s
love child. The shy Chiru is not too happy about it either, considering the
torch she has been carrying for Goya. The resulting scandal is bound to end in
tears, especially considering the regularity people in the village misplace
their souls, becoming extremely apathetic mabui.
With
its eccentric vibe and unhurried pace, one might also diagnosis Paradise with a persistent case of
indie-itis, but it never feels self-indulgently twee. Everyone is just too
hardscrabble to be cutesy. Although Takamine’s strict budget constraints start
to show down the stretch, he still transmits a vividly pungent sense of Okinawa
as a specific place and a Shamanistic state of mind. Frankly, there is
something seductive about the ebb and flow of the first two acts. You can feel
the humidity clouding into your perception, while Takamine takes his time
slowly implying bits and pieces of his undisciplined plot. Yet, that elliptical
suggestiveness is part of the charm. When things finally start to happen definitively,
it rather breaks the spell.
Kaoru
Kobayashi makes an appealingly low key anti-hero as the ant-obsessed slacker,
while Jun Togawa is quite touching as the lovelorn Chiru. In fact, the entire ensemble
looks appropriately rugged and slightly sunstroke-addled.
