Review by KFL

Japanese laquerware must rank as one of the most well-known of traditional Japanese crafts, and likely has the oldest lineage, extending back some eight or nine millenia. No surprise then that it is surrounded by various customs and traditions; add to these the male chauvinism that is typically present particularly in rural Japan, and set these features in Tsugaru in the far northern province of Aomori at the top end of the main island of Honshu, and one has the background in which the story of "Bakanuri no Musume", aka "Tsugaru Lacquer Girl", unfolds.

23-year-old Miyako helps her father Seishiro with production for his lacquerware business, but he relies on her help only because her brother Yuu, who would ordinarily take over the family business, shows zero interest in same. As such, Miyako is adrift; she can find no place for herself--she clearly doesn't belong behind a register at the local supermarket, but her gender evidently prevents her development as an artisan in a craft that she loves above all else.

Thus far, it's a story we've seen many times in many different settings. Miyako's unanticipated bid to break through the impasse she faces is however bold, breathtaking even, and obliges the viewer--this viewer, anyways--to overlook cliches in the storyline.

It's worth considering the meaning of the Japanese title. "Baka-nuri" roughly translates as "idiot-painter", referring to craftspeople who must apply countless coats of lacquer to a bowl or other piece before it is regarded as completed; enormous patience and perseverance are required to produce high-quality works. The self-deprecation belies the Zen-like total immersion required to produce works of such otherworldly beauty.