Having lived through the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 in Kobe; and
obviously in reaction to the Tohoku Earthquake and resulting tsunami three
years previous, Masakazu Sugita's 2014 "The Joy of Man's Desiring" focuses
on the destruction of one family following an unspecified earthquake.
Her house destroyed, twelve year-old Haruna struggles through the
rubble to find her family. But her parents are dead and we are quickly moved to
their funeral. Her injured pre-school younger brother, Shota, does not yet
know of his parents' fate as he recovers in hospital. Now without their
parents, arguments start among relatives as to who shall take them in,
resulting in their aunt and uncle inviting them to live with them.
Starting a new life, Haruna strives to fit-in at her new school, while
Shota blissfully goes about his carefree days, before gradually starting to
wonder as to the whereabouts of his parents. Causing difficulties in their new
family home between their aunt, uncle and cousin, the siblings runaway; their
survival seemingly more a burden for others than a blessing.
Tackling a sensitive subject matter such as this requires a certain
amount of tact from the filmmaker. Sugita's tactic is to take a child's
perspective on events: a position that could make things even harder. The irresistibly
cute Shota creates nothing but kawaii feelings for the audience, but also acts
as the perfect foil for the horribly tragic events that know no sympathy. His
ignorance to his situation, only heighten the inevitable heartbreak to be felt
at some point in a film such as this.
But Sugita avoids too much over-sentimentality. Initially, none of
their relatives seem keen to take them in, and those that do feel the strain of
their being there. Their cousin, Katsutoshi, soon resents his kin: Shota
inheriting his clothes; and more painfully for Haruna, her aunt sees her as the
daughter she always wanted - it just took the death of her parents for her to
get it.
With their emotionally-absent uncle, over-doting aunt and resentful
cousin, the pair are made to feel a burden, soon finding rejection and treated
as someone else's problem. No doubt a comment from Sugita as to some reactions
to those whose lives were destroyed in the aforementioned natural disasters.
The deception of her younger brother
taking its toll on Haruna - Shota waiting each day by the port for his parents
to arrive by boat - the ending sees the pair runaway seemingly to find
"home". This creates an awkward moment for the audience, as a twelve
year-old girl breaks down in tears, though there is no other way it could be.
Things are then left ambiguous as to what is next for the siblings, on both a
metaphorical and literal open road.
A debut feature for Sugita, there are some bumpy moments along the way,
but overall the filmmaking is strong. Long takes of slow movement allow pauses
for audience reflection and the at-times-harsh soundtrack accompanying shots of Haruna
feel reminiscent of the much more bumpy "Himizu", but effectively
demonstrate her inner turmoil of fake smiles on the surface, hide an eruption
of tears.
And remember, if you live in one of these following cities: Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Chester, Colchester, Derby, Dundee, Edinburgh, Exeter, Inverness, Kendal, Leicester, Lewes, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield or Stirling, sort your life out! Or, go and watch some of the films offered by the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2018.
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