Kontora

A director born India has breathed new life into Japanese cinema with "Kontora," is a deeply-engrossing and magical work. This, despite pushback from Japan's movie overlords and at least one festival unwilling to surrender turf to a gaijin director sparsely fluent in the language. Their loss. This film is a winner, both in awards and artistic merit.

Writer-director Anshul Chauhan's first outing was the more traditional "Bad Poetry Tokyo." But in "Kontore", his second, he broke more rules by delivering a 2½-hour film, and in monochrome (more industry no-no's). It's about a mysterious mute stranger who only walks backwards and into a disjointed father-daughter relationship. His presence helps suss out a buried treasure and mystery message left behind by the daughter's recently deceased, beloved grandfather.

This is an eloquent treatise on personal growth, the human condition, and the cruel treatment of World War 2 student soldiers at the war's inglorious end. It's played very well by relative newcomer leads including actress Wan Marui, and a tour de force in body language by the barefooted backwards waking man (first-timer Hidemasa Mase) whose moves echo those of Theravada Buddhist monks. Amazingly, it was filmed in 10 days, relying heavily on improvisational techniques.

I wonder what the giants of 20th century Japanese filmdom would make of "Kontora." I suspect many would be pleased by this fresh take on their classics, For art house movie audiences, and well beyond.

This is a one-trick-pony movie and immediately raises the question of how can chronically walking backwards be survivable without a rear view mirror?! The story line tries to leverage (yet again!) a mysterious event related to WW II, but in this case the proverbial cupboard is bare. Often dull primarily due to lethargic direction and a way-too-long photoplay. Solid snoozer. Viewed at Japan Cuts. WILLIAM FLANIGAN