Nankyoku Tairiku

56 years ago, in November 1956, the first Japanese expedition set off to Antarctica. The crew, consisting of explorers, scientists as well as Karafuto-ken, Sakhalin Husky breed dogs, stayed there cross-winter. Next spring, due to bad conditions the crew was forced to leave the dogs behind and head back to Japan. Suddenly, the heroes who were the first ever Japanese to live in Antarctica were bashed harshly about leaving the animals for inevitable death. However, two dogs - siblings Taro and Jiro - survived South Pole's severe conditions by themselves and were later safely brought back to their homeland.

The story of Taro and Jiro is well known among both adults and children in Japan. Two Sakhalin Huskies are a bit of an icon actually (I daresay second to loyal Hachiko, whose figure is a meeting spot in Tokyo's Shibuya). Surely though, not everyone is fully aware of all the facts regarding the Cross-Winter expeditions. These were written down by Kitamura Taiichi, a member of the 1st and 3rd expedition. One of his books, „Nankyoku Ettotai: Taro Jiro no Shinjitsu” (“Antarctica Cross-Winter Expedition: the truth behind Taro and Jiro”), published in 1997 became a base for TBS 2011 tv-drama Nankyoku Tairiku.

However, don't expect the drama to be as faithful as a documentary. It's based on true events, but the scenario is actually fictional. Kuramochi Takeshi (Kimura Takuya), our main “human” hero, is created upon Kikuchi Tetsu – South Pole explorer and mountaineer, member of the first expedition, who was in charge of the dog sleds. The traces of Kitamura Taiichi can be found in the youngest member of the crew, university student researching aurora effects, Inuzuka (Yamamoto Yusuke). The facts and ficition regarding those two characters are mixed and if you're interested you might want to check that up.

The expectations towards the drama were very high. Star-studded cast was led by SMAP’s Kimura Takuya, whose well known for being picky in terms of his appearances in TV series and co-workers. You can expect high quality and ratings form the shows Kimutaku graces with his name (recent years though, the tendency seems to be a little falling from “high” to “decent” though). Unfortunately, Nankyoku Tairiku is one of the shows that leaves a dissapointment taste.

The characters in the First Cross Winter expedition members are varied and likeable and we got a sufficient introduction of their background to care for their safe return home. Their families waiting and following the news back home are also depicted very well. Also the Antarctica glaciers (filmed on Hokkaido) and post-war Japan backgrounds are picturesque and believable, though from time to time we get a little over the top CG effect that ruins the overall feeling. The South Pole continent is wild and dangerous, the impression enhanced by the music, especially the first chords of Nakajima Miyuki’s (another big namein the credits!) ending theme “Kouya yori” that strikes in the right moment for a major cliffhanger.

That's all for the good. In terms of scenario, the show is draggy. At one point it gets close to absurd when all characters repeat the same lines over and over again for half and episode or more and we go nowhere. Weaker points turn up throughout the whole series and might work as a turnoff.

My point for this show

The cameos - Nakama Yukie appears as Kuramochi Takeshi's wife. Her appearance is as short as one glimpse of a black and white photo. And you wonder and wonder if you get to see her again. Musician Miyazawa Kazufumi (from The BOOM, author of international hit Shima-Uta) appears as Iwashiro, ficitonal leader of the second expedition.

Smuggler

Wannabe actor, Kinuta (Tsumabuki Satoshi) takes on a job as a mover - one who gets rid of inconvenient corpses - after his debt is bought out by an underground banker. He joins Joe (Masatoshi Nagase), a hard-boiled, laconic veteran of the trade, and an older chatterbox of a man who goes only by the moniker Gramps (Gashuin Tatsuya). Meanwhile, two legendary assassins, Vertebrae (Ando Masanobu) and Viscera (Ryushin Tei), are hired by the Chinese to deal with a Yakuza boss, Tanuma. Joe's team is tasked with disposing the bodies after the bloodbath that ensues. That's the first time their path will cross with the assassin's, but certainly not the last, because the angered Yakuza are now aiming for Vertebrae and Viscera's heads...

This is the premise of Ishii Katsuhito's 2011 movie Smuggler, based on Manabe Shohei's manga. The director assembled a pretty impressive cast - apart from the already mentioned, we'll see Mitsushima Hikari, Matsuyuki Yasuko and Kohinata Fumiyo with cameo appearances by several familiar faces.

When I sat down to this one, I expected a movie akin to Samehada Otoko to Momojiri Onna, with its comic-book violence and Pulp Fiction-like dialogues. This one however is noticeably darker, grittier and brutal then Samehada..., falling halfway to Kitano's Outrage with its realistic depictions of violence and gang power struggles. There will be skulls cracking in slow motion and lengthy, detailed torture scenes - the movie is not something to watch to the dinner.

I'm on fence with this one. For one thing, it's a well made piece of cinema, but the excessive violence left me twitching for a substantial part of the movie. Certainly there are people it will appeal to, for me it was too much. I find the more quirky Ishii, like Cha no Aji or Naisu no Mori, far more enjoyable.

My point for the movie

Among many cameo appearences by such Ishii veterans as Kiyokawa Hitoshi, Morishita Yoshiyuki and Terajima Susumu, there's also an appearence by Osugi Ren and Matsuda Shota as a pair of policemen - much like Tsumabuki's own appearence with Oguri Shun in Surely Someday. What's with all the policeman cameos in Japanese movies? Yoji Tanaka (another one from Samehada... cast) must have made it his hobby - I remember him from Udon, and looking at his imdb page, he must have scored a good three or four by himself. I have a hunch that I might have seen some odd policemen somewhere else too, but I can't pinpoint the titles of the top of my head

What are your feelings on Smuggler? Alternatively, have you seen any suspicious policemen around here somewhere?

Suteki na Kakushidori

Written and directed by Mitani Kouki, Suteki na Kakushidori (Lovely Candid Shot) is a 1 hour 30 minutes TV Special made to promote the upcoming movie Suteki na Kanashibari – Once in a blue moon. The story has no connection whatsoever, but we can see the same group of actors that appear in the movie as well. The trademark Mitani humour is same as well.

The construction of the plot is simple – tomboyish Mie (Fukatsu Eri) works as a hotel concierge and has to deal with ridiculous request by the guests from the suite. Each guest has their own episode sewed together by short commentary scenes in the lobby, where Mie discuss the guests’ background with her superior.

The main highlight are the guests – I personally liked the circus acrobat (so adorably dumb Kusanagi Tsuyoshi) and cooking charisma (Takeuchi Yuuko) episodes best, but they are all equally entertaining. The director himself also appears, obviously as an approval seeking movie director.

My point for this show

If you liked the setting, try Uchouten Hotel (Suite Dreams) – a movie from 2006 also written and directed by Mitani Kouki with as usual exceptional all-star cast and gallery of characters you can’t get bored with. It’s more complete as a story than rather chopped in pieces Suteki na Kakushidori.

Kuruma-isu de Boku wa Sora wo Tobu

Recently, I have seen Kuruma-isu de boku wa sora wo tobu, a TV special broadcasted during NTV 24 Hours Television. For those, who encounter the term for the first time, let me break it for you: 24 Hours Television is an annual charity event, a live marathon programme that actually runs for 24 hours more or less. Each year, a drama special (often based on real life events, books, diaries) is prepared, often starring some of the most popular names of the season. We can expect good/popular actors (that’s not always coming in pair), overcoming one’s disability or illness theme and unfortunately a mediocre artistic value.

Kuruma-isu de boku wa sora wo tobu (I will soar the sky on my weelchair) is exactly that. An average show about a shady fellow Yasuyuki (bleached Ninomiya Kazunari) who due to his own stupidity (he jumps from the rooftop and fractures his spine) is bound to the wheelchair for the rest of his life. Yasu has another illness – a weak relationship with his mother (Yakushimaru Hiroko), at first glance a carefree woman who has an inkling towards abusive men. During his hospital days, Yasu meets other people, who help him mature – an able counselor (Iseya Yusuke), shop clerk (Ueto Aya), little boy in terminal stage of cancer (Suzuki Fuku) and a teenager on a wheelchair who triggers a major upturn in the drama (Ikematsu Sousuke).

I wish this special had something more to it. Unfortunately, it’s more “educational” than artistic (as I mentioned before, it's a common feature for the 24 Hour Television franchise). There are strong scenes, that will probably last long in the viewer's memory, like Yasu’s visit to the suicide tourist spot. Truthfully, I think the whole story could be much better if the writers skipped Suzuki Fuku’s and Ueto Aya’s plot. The former was good, but quite typical, whereas the whole story of the latter was just shallow. Instead I wish someone came up with the idea to concentrate more on the time Yasu spend with the counseller. Ninomiya and Iseya are more than capable of giving us a great, emotional story just by sitting down and sharing a well-written dialogue.

Kuruma-isu de boku wa sora wo tobu is based on a book written by Hasegawa Yasuzou "Inochi no Counseling" (Counselling of Life). Hasebe Yasuyuki (notice the similarity) is more or less the author himself - now famous therapist being called "Black Jack of Psychology", bound to the weelchair. I haven't read the book, but I believe that the therapist Hasegawa Yasuzou met during his hospital days must have had a big impact on him to start studying psychology. That's another reason I wish the drama team developed that plot, instead of adding a number character whose stories couldn't be fully explored.

My point for the show

Yakushimaru Hiroko, who plays Yasu’s mother, was highly appraised for her portrayal of Ikeuchi Aya’s mom in 1 litre of tear. The actress was outstanding as a supportive and strong mother, who stood beside her daughter and helped her accept and live the small number of days she still had left with dignity. Here she is a completely different, but also three-dimensional character and it can be quite interesting to compare.

Kourei (Séance)

Some time ago I have reviewed Kurosawa Kiyoshi's Shokuzai. While writing the article I have realized, much to my surprise, that I have yet to see any of the director's movies. Since then, I was looking for a chance to see one of his movies. And it's hard to find a better occasion to watch a ghost movie than Halloween evening.

Junko (Fubuki Jun) is living a modest, monotonous live in a countryside with her husband, a sound engineer (Yakusho Koji). You'd think nothing out of ordinary, apart from the fact that she is a spiritual medium. She can see ghosts, communicate with the dead or gain information about people and events by touching their belongings. This is as much a gift as a curse to her - while she can help people who consult her, she's unable to hold a regular job due to her extrasensory perception kicking in at the wrong moment - as depicted in the scene when she takes up a part-time job at a family restaurant. Moreover, she broods over the fact that - due to her abilities being in the most part involuntary and hard to control - she can't prove them and is looked upon suspiciously by others. An unexpected chance arrives when a psychology student she was in contact with invites her to join an ongoing police investigation. A girl has been kidnapped. An accident has put the supposed kidnapper into coma and the trail runs cold. The police is skeptical, but will follow any clue if it can bring them to the kidnapped girl. Junko sees this as a chance to prove her abilities to the world and turn around her mundane live. A handkerchief the police passes her allows her to trace the girl's whereabouts. Much to her surprise, the girl turns up unconscious and malnourished in a trunk her husband takes with him when he goes out in the wild on recording sessions. Instead of handing the girl over to the police at the spot and likely making her husband a prime suspect, Junko concocts a plan that will put her in the spotlight as a spiritualist that has solved the case for the police. The events take the turn for the worse when the girl they now hold in custody dies and begins to haunt them...

Kourei is a 2000 TV movie loosely based on Séance on a Wet Afternoon, British film from 1964 starring Kim Stanley and Richard Attenborough. Either that, or they share the common source material - novel by Mark McShane. While they do share the outline of the story, the differences are fundamental and run deep, if the article on the book that I base this opinion on is correct.

In the novel, Myra - Junko's novel counterpart - is the one who kidnaps the child in the first place. She wants to establish herself as a first-class spiritualist. She's also the breadwinner of the family, as the séances she holds are the main income of the family. The husband Bill is unemployed and passive, unable and afraid to talk his wife out of her plan. Myra's motivation is her ambition, Junko however, while also seeking recognition, is dragged into the case more or less by chance and large part of the reason for tricking the police is her desire to put her husband out of suspicion. Myra is also a fraud, while in Junko's case we are led to believe she is the real thing. It also seems as if Yakusho's character had more backbone than Bill, though I don't know how Bill's character develops with the story, so I might be wrong here.

Much like in Shokuzai, the music is minimal, mostly ambient and used in the scenes depicting the supernatural. The exception again is a track played on bagpipes, much like in the 3rd episode of Shokuzai, used in one particularly unsettling scene.

The film's cast features several other well known faces - Kusanagi Tsuyoshi as the psychology student, Ittoku Kishibe as his professor, Kitaro as the police detective and Osugi Ren in a small role as a restaurant customer.

The pacing is slow and much of the film's value is conveyed through the mood and atmosphere, between the lines. Also, don't count on the movie to scare you senseless - it was a plus for me, as I'm not a horror person, but taking this movie for a token asian horror in lieu of Ringu, Dark Water or Ju-on might leave you disappointed.

My point for this movie

The scary scenes are nice and all, but the real strength of this movie lies in the depiction of the relationship between the wife and the husband. They seem distant from each other, much like any other stereotypical Japanese marriage. But the same can be said about them being distant from the rest of the world, the wife due to her abilities, the husband due to his aloof personality and solitary nature of his work. Perhaps it's this quality that brings them together. Before the incident, we see them together eating dinner, engaged in small talk about the husband's work. We see the husband coming home after work while the wife is holding a séance for a customer, we see him lying down and breathing out a cloud of fog when she's conducting the ritual. Yet they do not talk about it later, nor do they speak anything about her powers until they find the girl. I assumed he might not know about them, and even if he does, it will somehow cause a rift between them. It doesn't happen. It seems he accepted her, knowing about them all along, and will go to great lengths in order to protect her.

What's your favourite Kurosawa Kiyoshi movie? What would you recommend next? Cure? Charisma? Or maybe something entirely different?

Don Quixote

Shirota, a terribly wishy-washy fellow, works at a Child Care Consultation Centre. Apparently, he’s doing it of a calling, although his results do not show. One day, he happens to be in the same block of flats as a bunch of Sabashima group yakuza led by boss Sabashima himself and thanks to some evil (or good?) forces of nature (under a form of dark fog) the minds of these two are exchanged.

Now Shirota and Sabashima have to come to terms with what happened to them. They decide to work together until the riddle behind this mysterious body swap is solved. It’s enormously fun to watch how once timid Shirota (Matsuda Shota) becomes less-inteligent macho and the former yakuza boss (Takahashi Katsumi) now acts all ninny nanny in tight fashionable suit and needs to handle not only his own underlings but also enemies in the gangster world. Shirota, on the other hand, seems as if he couldn’t care less about the children he needs to take care of, while in fact he’s unconventional attitude is a blessing for the kids and a fresh breath of air to his office. Eventually they become something like best friends, supporting each other and changing their lives for better.

The Don Quixote series is full of funny gags with occasional tearful moments (if you’re into stories about family issues). Two leads did an amazing job pulling out the double roles (especially Matsuda!) and there is a bunchful of supporting actors that are like a cherry on the top: including Kobayashi Sachiko as Shirota’s boss, Matsushige Yutaka as Sabashima’s firstman and Miyake Hiroki as Child Care older colleague, Nishi-yan. However, in terms of storyline, not all episodes are equally good and I found some of them draggy, a common threat of a TV series. If squeezed the essence could be a perfect comedy.

The connection to Cervantes' "Don Quixote" is, to be honest, a little vague to me (yes, they actually did a theatre in the center, and all... And yes, Shirota and Sabashima are like a knight and his faithful sidekick), but the Spanish opening is great and sticks to your brain for long.

My point for this drama 

I you find body swap theme interesting, and I bet you do, try some other shows that turn around it. In Tenkousei - Sayonara Anata, a 2007 remake of an older movie,  two high-schoolers have their bodies replaced. One of them will even have to fight with the illness of the other. Similar theme was introduced also in a 1992 drama Houkago. In Papa to Musume no Nanokakan, it’s a father and a daughter who have to be one another for seven days. A soon to be released movie Himitsu no Akko-chan (based on a popular classic shoujo anime) tells the story of a 11-year-old who can transform into an adult. In also a drama turned movie Himitsu it’s the soul of the mother that enters her daughter’s body after a serious accident. And I bet the list can be much longer. The number of remakes is the best proof how prolific the motif can actually be.