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Written by: Haruki Murakami (short story), Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
Directed by: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Starring: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tôko Miura, Reika Kirishima
Rated: NR [PG-13]
Watch the trailer
Plot
After his wife's unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku, a renowned stage actor and director, receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima. There, he begins to face the haunting mysteries his wife left behind.
Verdict
While beautiful, it's more of a film school movie. There's as much happening between the dialog as there is on screen. The pace is slow, but this is an introspective movie that has to provide time for us to think about the characters. It's a movie to be studied more than to watch for casual entertainment.
It depends.
Review
This starts with a strange anecdote about a teenage girl There's no context for the story or the characters. It turns out to be a script idea and an aspect of the story that is central. Yûsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) listens to his wife workshop a script idea. Kafuku is playwright that discovers his wife is having an affair. It's a tough moment, but he carries it. He doesn't confront her. He fakes that everything is okay. That can't be easy, and the movie lets us hypothesize about what Kafuku is thinking. His way to cope seems to be driving his red Saab turbo. He cherishes the moments he shared with his wife as she would generate
script ideas. That seems to be an exclusive bond they shared despite the
affair.
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| Hidetoshi Nishijima and Tôko Miura play Yûsuke Kafuku and Misaki Watari |
Years later Kafuku is still a playwright but without a wife. Due to an eye condition he can't drive his car, but hires a driver Watari. During the ride Kafuku listens to lines his wife recorded of the Russian play Uncle Vanya which he is currently staging. While this movie only provides bit and pieces of the play, it ties in with the story. In Uncle Vanya, two estate characters are bored of their life but suffer a crisis when the landowner decides to sell the land and their home. The play is much deeper than that, but that's the gist.
Kafuku casts the man his wife cheated on him with, Kōji, though that man doesn't know Kafuku is aware. At one point they talk about relationships, and it's clear the other man did love Kafuku's wife.
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| Hidetoshi Nishijima and Masaki Okada play Yûsuke Kafuku and Kōji Takatsuki |
This is a movie about grief and how to maintain balance despite it. Kafuku feels the grief over losing his child and trying to find balance. His wife was unfaithful, but he wanted to maintain that balance. He's still working, and his wife is still present in his life, from the recordings to this other man that had a relationship with her. The only other relationship Kafuku has on screen is with his driver Watari. I'm not quite sure to make of it. Watari is a talented driver and Kafuku has some level of respect for that. They eventually share details of their past that deepens their bond, but it's strictly platonic.
Could this be shorter? Sure, but this movie wants you to think about what's happening on screen and to imagine yourself as these characters. A quicker paced movie would rob you of that chance. It's such a well made movie, and I like it even more writing a review and thinking about it. I almost want to watch it again to one, take it in, and two, see if I can figure out what Kafuku's driver represents.
This is a movie about control. Almost everything Kafuku does is about maintaining control. That control stops him from feeling helpless.
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