Ryuichi Hiroki's
Love on a
Sunday and Love on a Sunday 2: Last Words
(Japan 2007)
Subway Cinema Presents 7th New York Asian Film
Festival
June 20 - July 6, 2006
Starring: Maki Horikita;
Shunsuke Kubozuka; and Saki Takaoka.
Reviewed by Julia Sirmons
While a lot of Japanese
teen movies, many of them based on manga, are
high drama fantasies, the New York Asian Film
Festival offered American audiences a new angle
on Japanese teen dramas by screening two touching
works by director Ryuichi Hiroki: Love On
A Sunday and Love On A Sunday 2: Last
Words.
In Love On A Sunday, Akira (Takami Mizuhashi)
is about to leave her provincial town to move
Tokyo. She’s hoping to spend her last night
with her childhood friend Nao (Ryuya Nakabo),
hoping to finally declare her love for him. Unfortunately,
Nao’s more interested in popular girl Tamaki,
who’s suddenly interested in Nao. But she’s
only toying with him to hurt Akira, since Tamaki’s
ex, Gaku dumped her for Akira. When Akira finds
this out, she’s determined to prevent Nao
from getting hurt at any cost.
From here on, something extraordinary happens.
A gavotte of sexual and emotional gamesmanship
worthy of Dangerous Liaisons unfolds,
all through the filter of adolescent insecurity
and longing. Of course, there’s no Valmont
in this equation, in keeping with Hiroki’s
commitment to teen verité, the boys remain
clueless, while the girls know exactly what’s
going on.
Hiroki tends to keep his camera at a certain distance,
letting the complex interplay between characters
unfold from a subtle yet omniscient distance.
Mizuhashi delivers an incredibly strong and nuanced
performance, all coltish awkwardness and nostalgic
introspection. Her chemistry with Nakabo is lively
and charming.
In spite of the stereotypical angsty and immature
adolescent antics on display in this game, Hiroki
never insults his characters, and offers them
moments of ebullient joy. When two characters
make a mad dash toward the future through the
halls of their school, it’s a beautiful
tribute to youthful optimism and exuberance.
Hiroki continues to explore the tribulations of
the young heart, in the sequel Love On A Sunday
2: Last Words, a new story of nostalgia and
unfulfilled dreams in small-town Japan. Nagisa
(Maki Horikita) finds out she’s got six
months to live, so she decides to go back to her
rural hometown to visit an older boy she’s
always carried a torch for. She’s hoping
to fall in love ad revisit her childhood memories.
When it becomes apparent he still thinks of her
as a kid, she acts out and becomes sullen, but
then tries to make the most of the time she has
left.
The strength of the film hangs on Horikita’s
incredible performance. She vacillates between
sullen impulsiveness, mournful dejection, and
romantic idealism. She holds close-ups with the
professionalism of a much more seasoned actor,
and manages to convey a subtlety and depth of
emotion.
An example of Horikita’s extreme talent
occurs late in Last Words, when in an
exhilarating long take, Nagisa gets to live out
her childhood dream of being a bus tour guide,
narrating her memories while slowly breaking down.
It’s a beautiful and poignant moment that
makes one hope that well be seeing a lot more
of Hiroki’s work in the future.
For more information about the Asian Film Festival,
log onto:
subwaycinema.com
Kim Mee-Jung’s
Shadows In the Palace
(Korea, 2007)
Subway Cinema Presents
7th New York Asian Film Festival
June 20 - July 6, 2006
Starring:
Park Jin-Hee; Yun Se-Ah; and Lim Jeong-Eun.
Reviewed by Julia Sirmons
Something’s
rotten in the King’s household in Shadows
in the Palace, first-time director Kim Mee-Jung’s
taut, elegant period thriller about the machinations
of the female members of the royal court.
Since his Queen has been unable to give him an
heir, the King’s been considering legitimizing
his son by his concubine Hee-Bin (Yoon See-Ah).
The Queen and the Queen Mother are naturally against
this move, while Hee-Bin sees it as her only chance
to protect herself and her courtiers in her old
age. The women on each staff are trying to do
everything to forward their mistresses’
causes. When one of Hee-Bin’s maids is found
hanging from the rafters, court nurse Chun-Ryung
(Park Jin-hee) is determined to investigate the
death, despite the fact that the women of the
palace are determined to keep the truth buried.
The procedural is fascinating to watch: the forensic
techniques Chyun-Rung uses (the film is set in
the Jesong dynasty) are fascinating and surprisingly
advanced. Jin-hee’s performance is all staunch
determination and righteous indignation. The rest
of the strong, almost exclusively female, cast
does a fantastic job maintaining the level of
high drama and intrigue. Their confrontations
are vicious, calculating and often chillingly
violent – and a heck of a lot of fun to
watch.
There are enough twists and surprises to keep
the audience engaged, but at over two hours long,
the big secrets become apparent a little too soon
in the plot. Mee-Jung makes up for it with a stunningly
heart-racing and shocking ending that’s
a powerful testimony to the power of female will
and solidarity in this supposedly male-dominated
arena. In the world of Shadows in the Palace,
behind one great man are hundreds of greater,
stronger women, pursuing their own agendas with
all their might.
For more information about
the Asian Film Festival, log onto:
subwaycinema.com
Hitoshi
Yazaki's
Strawberry Shortcakes (Japan, 2006)
Subway Cinema Presents 7th New York Asian Film
Festival
June 20 - July 6, 2006
Starring: Chizuru Ikewaki;
Noriko Nakagoshi; Yuko Nakamura: Toko Iwase; Ryo
Kase; and Masanobu Ando.
Reviewed by Julia Sirmons
A girl is dragged down the street holding on to
a boy’s ankle. She’s in her pajamas,
her hair wild, crying.
“If you don’t like me anymore, I’ll
try harder to make you like me,” she wails.
“Even if you hate me I’ll try my best
to make you like me! Don’t dump me, I’m
begging you!”
“Get lost!” the boy says, as he kicks
her to the ground.”
For any woman watching, it’s a wickedly
parodic moment. But it’s also painfully,
horribly, cringe-inducingly real.
So begins Strawberry
Shortcakes, Hitoshi Yazaki’s brutally
honest, poignantly tender and realistic look at
the existential challenges facing the modern urban
woman, which made its Manhattan debut at this year’s
New York Asian Film Festival.
The Festival is branding Strawberry Shortcakes
as “the movie Sex and The City should
have been.” But while the story, based on
the popular manga "Sweet Cream and Red Strawberries,"
has little in common with the Manolo-clad megafranchise
so familiar on these shores. Only one pair of shoes
feature prominently in Strawberry Shortcakes.
And when a band of women walk down a street, arms
linked, clad in little black dresses, it’s
a bunch of hookers going out for noodles after their
boss’ funeral.
If the show that brought us SJP and her flower corsages
trumpeted itself as a celebration of city women
and their close-knit friendships, Strawberry
Shortcakes brings a more troubled, raw and
sophisticated look at young women navigating life’s
tribulations.
Satoko (Ikewaki Chizuru), the girl from the opening
scene, works as the receptionist for the Heaven’s
Gate escort service. At night she prays to a stone
she believes is the form of God to bring her a boyfriend,
while trying to overcome her insecurities about
her looks. She strikes a tenuous, unlikely friendship
with the existentially depressed Akiyo, the most
in-demand prostitute in Heavens Gate, who puts on
her jeans and nerdy glasses to go visit a university
classmate she’s crazy about, and who doesn’t
know how she makes her money.
Satoko works a second job as a noodle shop, where
Chihiro, an office girl, is a frequent client. Chihiro
is so desperate to get married she lets her noncommittal
boyfriend treat her like a doormat and sucks up
to every man at work, much to the scorn of her female
colleagues. Meanwhile, her roommate, the artist
Toko (Iwase Toko, author of "Sweet Cream and
Red Strawberries," in her first and extremely
impressive film role) tries to complete her unique
vision of God for a freelance assignment while she
pretends she doesn’t care about her break-up
six months ago and ties to rid herself of her inner
demons.
All four women defy, easy, stereotypical categorization;
Hitoshi Yazaki takes the time and unusual visual
details to introduce us to each character as fully
formed individuals. We know almost everything there
is to know about Akiyo when, in a single shot, we
learn that she sleeps in wooden coffin with a goldfish
tank perched above it. Similarly, an overhead shot
of Toko, her thong peaking out as she bends over
a canvas, points to an indefinable element of her
character that’s never fully explored, a mystery
left for the audience to ponder.
The most extraordinary thing about Strawberry Shortcakes
is the viscerally honest way it depicts the pitfalls
of women’s friendships and the awkward sexuality
of one’s twenty-something years. Toko reads
Chihiro’s diary as she indifferently masturbates
– is this out of jealously, lust, or something
in between? Rejected by her boyfriend on her birthday,
Chihiro resorts to an awkward one-night stand with
the noodle shop owner, only to have him come on
her face while singing “Happy Birthday”
to her. These awkward moments, so real and recognizable,
are what make the film so empathetic and powerful.
“You know, I really hated you,” one
roommate says to another towards the end of the
film. “I really hated you too,” the
other replies, moments before they laugh and embrace.
It’s moments like this that so many chick
flicks get wrong, and this one nails perfectly.
If you get the chance to see Strawberry Shortcakes,
bring your best girlfriend along, and when it’s
over, give her a hug.
For more information about
the Asian Film Festival, log onto:
subwaycinema.com
Kenta Fukaskau’s
X-Cross (Japan, 2007)
Subway Cinema Presents 7th
New York Asian Film Festival
June 20 - July 6, 2006
Starring: Nao Matsushita;
Ami Suzuki; and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi.
Reviewed by Julia Sirmons
They say a man can’t resist
a great pair of gams, but the men of the remote
Japanese village in Kenta Fukaskau’s X-Cross
prefer their women one-legged. It’s an
ancient tradition that two Tokyo girls must try
and escape in this alternately chilling and laugh-out-loud
riotous horror flick.
Recently dumped good girl Shiyori (Nao Matsushita)
and her slutty friend Aiko (Ami Suzuki) find their
vacation spoiled when they learn that their hosts
are after their limbs. Separated from each other,
Shiyori tries to figure out who she can trust and
escape with the aid of a mysterious stranger on
the other end of the cell phone while Aoki has to
fend off the crazed love child of Edward Scissorhands
and a harajyuku girl.
The fractured narrative, alternately telling the
story from each girl’s point of view, builds
up a tension. There’s plenty of suspenseful
chase scenes, and the depictions of the town’s
odd and creepy ritual have a gory, almost medieval
beauty. But in addition to the thrills and chills,
the movie has a powerful B-story about the importance
of female unity in spite of petty fights and superficial
differences that’s refreshing and empowering
to watch. A horror flick this entertaining and unique
hasn’t come along in quite a while, and hopefully
American audiences will get to see a lot more of
Fukasaku’s twisted vision on our screens.
For more information about
the Asian Film Festival, log onto:
subwaycinema.com
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