Tenshi no rakuen

People on the fringes of society, sexuality, life, hanging on by a thread, with and to other like-minded souls maybe. Reiko as a mother to lost souls.

A lot of the times it felt like the whole movie is shot by people in the movie. There is a lot of obvious footage inserted, dim-lit, jerky camera reigns supreme. I was wondering about that in the first part, but in Kochi it's clear that there's also conventional shooting, just less jerky. A little less.

It didn't deliver as advertised for me, it was difficult to care or understand, let's say things feel a little clearer in the second half hour and by the end, well really right at the end I actually started to care why Takachi died. But mostly I was interested in Shinpei and Sorao, maybe Reiko. If it had been more focused maybe it would've had more of an impact, but I guess this is the cinematic effect that the director was going for.

It's a movie that rejects every and any stipulation of commercial cinema. In many moments, one has feeling as if one sits in a living room, listening to the conversations held over projection of amateur homemade footage taken with hand-held 8-mm camera, out of focus, shot at lowest speed to capture as much as possible onto this so restricted media, and due to this granular images projected on the wall flicker.

Yet, precisely this technical "inadequacy" is the one that ensures necessary distance from palpable reality, in order to be able to dive into pain that it is not possible to elicit otherwise.

I came across this film per chance, wanting to watch a fairly short feature length film as I was quite tired. I didn't really know what to expect from its vague biography but essentially this is a story about a kind and joyful gay man who ends up dead as a result of many things, mainly being ostracized as an outsider. It is assumed that he is killed by a casual pick-up. His story is retold by his two best friends who had visited him after being sent back to his hometown to live with his father (of whom share a strange relationship). However the story is fragmented and quite confusing just like the true meaning of the film, shedding light on multiple perspectives and multiple random characters. Long scenes of Japanese landscapes or sex scenes tie these narrative scenes together alongside a somber but upbeat instrumental used multiple times. Yes, this film is minimal in its imagery but it has a real personal charm to it, it's narrative clearly rooted in reality. And the final scene, which portrays the dead character moments before his death, has a haunting monologue that truly encapsulates his feelings of loss and hopelessness. Check it out!