Alternative title: Kawa no soko kara konnichi wa Written and directed by: Yuya Ishii Starring: Hikari Mitsushima, Kotaro Shiga and Masashi Endo
The newest Japanese film picked up for international release by distribution company Third Window Films, official sponsor of Coventry University East Asian Film Society (CUEAFS), ‘Sawako Decides’ by director Yuya Ishii portrays something different than what Western audiences would classify as ‘comedy’. The film deals with complicated emotions and personalities, and tells a universally true message about life and the will to live it.
Hikari Mitsushima (‘Kakera’, ‘Love Exposure’) portrays a spiritless girl during her fifth year in Tokyo, a ‘middle’ woman in a ‘middle’ job with a ‘middle’ boyfriend, who uses the phrase ‘it cannot be helped’ as an excuse for her apathy towards her own existence. At her meaningless and humiliating job at a toy company, she passively listens to two co-workers talk about men and the global economic crisis. Her free time she spends drinking beer alone or in the company of her boyfriend Kenichi and his daugher Kayoko, unable to connect with either of them in any significant way. With the news of her father being desperately ill, Kenichi persuades Sawako to move back to her home town and take over the clam-packing company her father used to run. Faced with the strong personalities of the factory women and the townspeople accuing her of deserting her father, Sawako slowly sinks into her ordinary life until one day she decides that it’s time her life changed.
Despite its slow pace , the film picks up speed towards the end, where the ‘metamorphosis’ of Sawako takes place. In that last part isn’t short of a few laughs and, perhaps, a few tears. Hikari shows her more active side which is visible in her performance in ‘Love Exposure’ and wins hearts with Sawako’s innocent eyes filled with childlike optimism, based on a depressing middle-class opinion of her own life. The music score debut by Chiaki Nomura and Samon Imamura is absolutely brilliant at closely following the pace of the film and intensifying the hidden emotions of the unsuspecting audience.
Hikari Mitsushima received Best Actress awards for her unforgettable performances in ‘Love Exposure’ and ‘Kakera’, and here gives a memorable impression of a spiritless middle-class girl, undergoing metamorphosis. Her portrayal of Sawako is very similar to the personality of Haru from ‘Kakera’ although directors Momoko Ando and Yuya Ishii created two completely different films in nature, storyline and message. Hollywood audiences might find a recent role undergoing the same metamorphosis in Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Black Swan’, where Natalie Portman’s character fights a similar battle with her own mind, although the film is again very different in nature and ideology. Although Sawako’s metamorphosis might seem a bit sudden and unrealistic and her character might be one that’s difficult to identify oneself with, Hikari Mitsushima’s performance in both parts of the film is truly believable and the audience can’t help but sympathise and want more for this middle-class girl leading a middle-class life.
With the only criticism as to running time, which could be slightly edited due to the film’s pace, ‘Sawako Decides’ is pleasant to watch and even though a little different from what is usually called a comedy, able to create a few laughs and leave the audience with perhaps a little more optimism as to their own lives. Although at times the characters might not be easy to identify with and their seemingly numb and meaningless lives might be somewhat unbelievable, the actors are convincing in their performances and with the help of the brilliant soundtrack are able to transcend the audience into the ‘middle’ world, where no-one is special, but life is still worth living.
