Himizu

Himizu uses the tsunami which destroyed Fukushima in Japan, as a backdrop, to tell the tragic story of two fourteen year old kids, Sumida and Keiko, who are classmates at school where they are trying to survive both the storms aftermath, and extremely indifferent parents. Sumida is abandoned by a drunken father and a mother of questionable morals, and Keiko suffers from an equally poor family life. It should be kismet, but, trust me, it is anything but, as we watch many bad things happen to good people for two hours and ten minutes. The lead actor and actress are tremendous, but the story meanders at times and becomes a bit tiring by the end. The message seems to be one of survival at any cost, and I recommend Himizu based on the two excellent main actor and actress.

For those who have watched Ki-Duk Kim's Address Unknown, wild animals, bad guy or others, this Himizu could fit in that series of films. Personally, as I just mentioned, I find this movie highly influenced by Ki-Duk Kim's style in the first hour and then by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's classic novel: Crime and Punishment in the second hour, with the girl encouraging the boy to turn himself in. This mixture between the korean director and the classic Russian novel makes a superb drama that can please both sono & Kim's fans. I also find Sono away from his classic films such as Suicide Club, Noriko's Dinner Table, Coldfish, Strange Circus, etc. In Himizu there's the tendency to a drama more than a bizarre film like the classic ones of this director, yet a superb one.

Himizu is nothing short of a tragic drama. Our main character, Simadu, lives in a violent and dismal reality. He is neglected and physically abuse by his self serving parents and while his father comes and goes his mother eventually abandons him. A female classmate, Keiko, comes from a difficult environment of her own but has a major crush on Simadu and wants to help him. Their situations are extremely volatile yet Keiko has hope for the future and will not let Simadu let his circumstances deter him from believing he can dream and make plans for a future that will be far removed from where they currently are. (Not sure if I spelled those names right so forgive any mistake.)

This was just a bleak, depressing and straight up sad film. I know that our cultures are different but I can say that there were things happening in full view of others that I just couldn't believe. I just couldn't be a spectator to someone abusing a child but it seemed like others thought it best to mind their own business. Whew! It was rough for me to watch that. I was ready to open a can on some of these adult bullies and the by-standards who failed to step in.

I don't think it would be a stretch to say that this isn't going to be a film for everyone. It is a bit long and it felt tedious at times. The two lead actors did a great job with their roles. It also seemed to be filmed well but I noticed some audio issues and I understand that it may have simply been a problem with the media I chose to use.

I didn't love this but I didn't hate it either. The story was super dark and not as balanced as I would've like to have seen. It served me well for a night on the couch but it's not going to be a film that I watch again. If you chose to watch it just be prepared for a slow and dark drama.

I was stunned. This film by Shion Sono stuns me. It is by no means a perfect film, nor it tries to be so, but it is one of the best manifestos of the Japanese psyche, which is revealed with honesty and sincerity. On the surface, I like everything Japan. Deep down, I find Japan and the Japanese to be so hopelessly trapped in its and their own social and economic creation, which is modern Japan. This film chronicles a few lives, and still it tells a universal story of what feels like to be a Japanese today. Japan is a world's notable story of rags-to-riches, and it is even more notable, and revealing, as it seems to reverse the fortune at the stagnation of self development today. It is still too soon to name Japan's story of the riches-back-to-rags nature. But the emergence of China and South Korea and Taiwan and the once third-world Asia puts Japan at a paranoid of getting a lot closer and faster to the rank of rags. I find the boy Sumida in several Japanese friends of mine. Their unspeakable pains and sorrows are much more understood now. Japan has created itself, especially after the second world war, into a society depending on other people's perception and judgment. The Japanese then are left to struggle with the realities of their own, sometimes most degrading and inhuman, and continuing to protect the great image of worldly success and of loyal conformity to the society at large. This great contrast proves too much for a human being. There go suicides, vicious killings, and other unnamed psychopathic episodes as a tragic result. This film makes us wonder which will win: hopelessness or hopefulness. It ends with one winning just an inch over the other. I believe this sad film wants to convey the desperation of Japan and the Japanese at this time. It does well. I recommend this Shion Sono film for everyone who cares more than just about yourself, and I wish Japan well in every way. Dear Japan, you have killed your own father, the old and traditional Japan, and been trying to live with the leftover, being the modernised Japan. Tall order it indeed is, but you are not as short as before. There is a future.

Some of you already know I'm a huge fan of Love Exposure, but I hadn't seen anything else from Sono until this, so I was greatly anticipating it. It's set in post-tsunami Japan, and this setting is not only a context but a very important part of the plot, perhaps too much so especially at the ending when the film turns a little into a moralizing or even propaganda piece, with the main character crying "Don't give up!" repeatedly while we see images of the ravages of the flood. I gotta say those last minutes moved me to the verge of tears though, but that has more to do with how it builds up and connects previous elements shown in the film in a rather messy way. But I think that's the Sono way, with quick shots and thoughts put together, unexpected transitions, poetry mixed up with violence, sometimes inscrutable characters... This film also has some powerful cinematography going for it, with thinned down and warm colors, probably with some filter involved or maybe just postproduction grading to create this beautiful effect. Also worthy of notice is the soundtrack, with pieces from Mozart and Barber that enhance the poignancy of the film.

So in the end it's a tragic and also hopeful love story, with different situations involved that make true sense only towards the end. It has some disturbing scenes, with parents who want their children dead or people who want to kill other people in the street for no rational reason... Situations that are quite effective in portraying not only the material but also the moral and mental damages that can be caused by such an event as last year's tsunami. Still, it's no match to Love Exposure, and I don't think anything else from Sono is/will be.

****