Movies

Kyoto-located latest Japanese soap movie: Mother Water

Source: Asahi
Date: 26/11/2010

In a quiet suburb of Kyoto, three women run their own small shops. Setsuko (Satomi Kobayashi) runs a bar that only serves whiskey; Takako (Kyoko Koizumi) has a coffee shop and Hatsumi (Mikako Ichikawa) manages an old-style tofu store.

The people of this town, including the women, all appear to be unhurried. Considering how in real life, we are tossed about by storms, their attitudes, which are reminiscent of educated, well-off idlers, rubs us the wrong way. How did they raise the money to open their shops? Can they make both ends meet even though their stores are not downtown? Can Hatsumi manage the strenuous task of tofu-making alone? Life isn't that easy.


"Motherwater" was produced by the team that brought us "Kamome Shokudo" (Kamome restaurant), "Megane" (Glasses), and "Pool," each of which depicted a certain Arcadia. In particular, Kyoto, the setting of this film, feels like time has stopped, and the film has an atmosphere like heaven. Or perhaps, if a communist society is achieved, could it be something like this?

We cannot help but feel a bit cynical as we watch these scenes. Yet the more we tell ourselves how unlikely this sort of life is, the stronger we realize that most of us are living clumsy, modest lives in a dingy society. The instant we see this, our cynical thinking collapses.

The people in the town are together taking care of a baby called Popura. No one knows who his parents are and no one asks. They simply raise him as the town's child. This is the sort of deed that is only possible if a society can afford to do so. No doubt life in this town lacks reality.

But perhaps we should put aside our cynicism and try to achieve this sort of society again. At least this seems to be what the creators of the film have in mind.

Directed by Kana Matsumoto, starring Satomi Kobayashi, Kyoko Koizumi and Ryo Kase; now showing at theaters nationwide



Everyday shows next week (Nov. 28^th to Dec. 2^nd) at Kyoto Movix Cinema at 10h55, 13h15 and 15h35 (Room no. 5).

Tel: 075-254-3215 Website: Movix Kyoto (In Japanese)
Access: Sanjo sagaru-Kawaramachi, in the arcade way ("shotengai"), turn left/south







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Kyoto Story

Kyoto Uzumasa Koimonogatari

Date: 11/11/2010
Source: Variety (Richard Kuipers)

A Shochiku release of a Ritsumeikan Trust, Shochiku production. (International sales: Shochiku, Tokyo.) Produced by Toyo Omi Nagata, Suketsugu Noda, Ichiro Yamamoto. Executive producer, Yoji Yamada. Directed by Yoji Yamada, Tsutomu Abe. Screenplay, Yamada, Tomoaki Sasae.

With: Hana Ebise, Yoshihiro Usami, Sotaro Tanaka, Mai Nishida, Min Tanaka, Rei Dan.

Directing his 82nd feature in his 79th year, Yoji Yamada composes a sweet valentine to cinema in drama-docu hybrid "Kyoto Story." Filmed on the street where long-defunct major Japanese Daiei Studios once stood, Yamada's collaboration with co-director Tsutomu Abe and film students from Ritsumeikan U. bathes its simple love story in a warm glow of nostalgia for the days when moviemaking and life seemed much less complicated. Still playing in limited release since its May 22 domestic bow, pic boasts innocent charms that are ideal for fests and specialized broadcast, but offshore theatrical prospects appear slim.
 



IYamada and former assistant Abe set out their stall with archival footage while a female narrator (Rei Dan) describes the historic Uzumasa district in Kyoto as the "Hollywood of the Orient" back in the day. Many great studios once flourished including Daiei, producers of classics "Rashomon" and "Ugetsu." Intro concludes with a message that Daiei no longer exists, "but its name still remains, as does the pride of the local people."
Living in the heart of Daiei Shopping Street, Kyoko (Hana Ebise) helps out at her family's laundry business and works part-time in the Ritsumeikan U. library. (Yamada is a guest professor on campus.) Expecting to eventually marry Kota (pop star USA, real name Yoshihiro Usami), an aspiring comedian whose parents run the tofu shop next door, Kyoko is thrown for a loop when visiting scholar Enoki (Sotaro Tanaka) starts sending her love poems written in the ancient Chinese characters he's studying.

Kyoko's choice between the two men in her life and Kota's dilemma about whether to follow in his father's footsteps or take the risky road into showbiz are played out in a manner that would not be out of place in one of the 1950s dramas Yamada worked on during his apprenticeship at Shochiku. But this only enhances the appeal for the older demos the movie is aimed at, and works wonderfully well alongside documentary inserts featuring oldsters remembering when Daiei Shopping Street and Daiei Studios thrived. In several delightful instances, interviewees play themselves in scenes from the scripted drama.

The emotionally satisfying message to emerge from this mix of contempo drama and nostalgic docu is that while life seems faster and more complex nowadays, the basic human need for love and security never changes.

Yamada and Abe elicit fine performances from pros and amateurs alike. With his hangdog face and ever-present hat, USA's unfunny comic brings to mind Tora-san, the unsophisticated and unlucky-in-love character Yamada co-created and directed in 46 of the 48 feature outings which kept Shochiku's coffers full between 1969 and 1995.

Shots of old trams trundling down the tracks at daybreak and images of shops which look like they've been around forever are lovely side attractions of Masashi Chikamori's appropriately clean and unfussy lensing. Harumi Fuuki's score blends old and new melodies to perfection. Other tech work is on the mark.

Camera (color), Masashi Chikamori; editor, Kazuhide Ishijima; music, Harumi Fuuki; art director, Takashi Nishimura; costume designer, Kazuo Matsuda; sound (Dolby Digital), Kazumi Kishida; line producer, Tomohiro Abe; assistant director, Yasutaka Maehara. Reviewed at Hawaii Film Festival (Spotlight on Japan), Oct. 18, 2010. (Also in Berlin Film Festival -- Forum; Hong Kong Film Festival -- Masterclass.) Running time: 93 MIN.

Alternative English name: Kyoto Uzumasa Monogatari

Due in May 2010 at Kyoto Movix Cinema
Tel: 075-254-3215 Website: Movix Kyoto (In Japanese)
Access: Sanjo sagaru-Kawaramachi, in the arcade way ("shotengai"), turn left/south





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