The
tradition of pottery and ceramics dates back to at least 600 BC in Japan, where
it remains a vital and respected medium for contemporary artists. You can see
that for yourself from the exhibitions the Ippodo Gallery regularly stages in
New York. You won’t come across the work of Sasuke Noda there anytime soon. He
had that kind of potential, but he was ruined by an unscrupulous dealer. He now
gets by on modest forgery scams, but he has a chance for some Sting-style payback in Masaharu Take’s We Make Antiques! (trailer here), which screens
during the 2018 Japan Cuts Festival of New Japanese Film.
Norio
Koike is sort of like Lovejoy, but less ethical. Ever since the smalltime
dealer was fooled by a forgery foisted on him by Tadayasu Hiwatashi and his
dodgy expert authenticator Seiichiro Tanahashi, he forced himself to develop an
eye for immediately detecting fakes, regardless of what the provenance might
say. Yet, he still fell for Noda’s counterfeit Raku tea bowl.
It
turns out Hiwatashi and Tanahashi were also the ones who destroyed Noda’s
reputation. Despite their awkward introduction, the two scammers quickly
discover they are birds of a feather with mutual enemies. With the older gent’s
network and dealer credentials, they can take the con Noda ran on Koike to a
much higher level, like something in the neighborhood of 100 million Yen.
(Actually, that is a few fingers less than a million dollars US, but it still
fills up more than one briefcase.) They just need a more compelling fake Raku
bowl.
Yes,
the con is on and it is indeed breezy fun. This is an amiable film with some
low-key elements of farce. There is some door slamming and hiding under tables,
but it never descends into slapstickery. In fact, the film genuinely has a passion
for ceramics, which it wants to share. The patrons and staff of the Ippodo
would probably get a big kick out of it, but fans of caper movies will also dig
the scheming and scamming.
Kiichi
Nakai is delightfully roguish as Koike, the charming old rake. Watching him smooth
talk his way through the picture is just good clean entertainment. Kuranosuke Sasaki’s
Noda is rougher around the edges and more understated, but he nicely compliments
Nakai. Kogan Ashiya and Masaomi Kondo make appropriately pompous villains,
while a veritable rogue’s gallery of character actors add all kinds of color and
energy as Koike and Noda’s assorted bunco accessories.
