And that pisses me of. Hardly could the story be sadder. The film is beautiful. I'm usually a wuss. Yet... nothing. Anyone like me?
shareI loved the cinematography, the mood, the locations, and the acting. But by the end, it didn't work for me. There were too many stretches of believability. Maybe there's something I'm missing due to being unfamiliar with Japanese culture. Or maybe I just missed something in general. I'll put these things in the spoiler tags.
I actually CAN believe the neglect of the mother. The actress, You, did an excellent job in her role. She is endearing, and likable, but then slowly lets us in on her real character, so the by the time she leaves, and we realize she may not come back at all, we buy into it. I did anyway.
Obviously, the biggest issue is not getting help when the sister fell. I understand not calling the authorities in when things are tough, because he doesn't want to split the family up. But once someone "won't get up" but is still alive, it seems like human instinct would kick in and the older kids would get help. If there is some motivation for them not doing that, I don't think the film set it up very well.
Next, the landlord visited about the rent, then we never heard anything about it after that. If the rent wasn't being paid, they would be served with eviction, right? But the movie goes from winter to summer and the landlord never shows up again, and there is no action to get them out. In addition, the landlord is obviously shocked and concerned about the condition of the apartment, and the absence of the mother, but again... no action taken. That was too big a stretch for me to just ignore.
Although I felt empathy for the plight of the kids, and there were several moments that touched me, as the movie went on, and especially when Yuki fell and was obvious she wouldn't live without help, I didn't have any emotional response except that Akira was an idiot, and I felt like the movie was trying to be manipulative by killing off a child.
It worked for me and here's why:
Japanese culture is different. The children are more subdued. American kids would have started a fire or brought attention to themselves more quickly. About not going for help, remember, Akiro wasn't there so he didn't see the fall. But the most important thing and this is what the movie was about: THESE ARE CHILDREN! The whole point of the movie is to point how kids cannot raise themselves because they lack adult perspective and judgement. Akiro was more concerned about them not being split up. Death was not a reality to him. Truthfully, death is not a reality to children. It's only when you get old that you start to fathom the meaning of death. Unless you've experienced it, you don't get it really. Remember, he stole medicine for her. In his childhood mind, he was certain she would get up... she would be alright. And do you realize how many adults in this country abuse their kids, watch them die because they are convinced that the kids will be alright... that they didn't hurt them that bad? This film had a lot of themes, ignorance and lack of education were just two. So was child abuse, neglect, abandonment, the intense family bonds and the undconditional love small children have for their mothers.
I agree with you...
An exceedingly obvious point to this whole movie was what you said...they were children and wholly unprepared to handle adult things, like caring for children, paying bills...etc. He was only 12. He kept up with it at first as best he could...but after a while, with no sign of her coming back...kids don't get it like adults do, the things you have to do to "survive." They didn't have motivation to try to be adults, just to try eat and clean here and there. Not to mention...he was probably near-starving himself, as they all were. Extremely exhausted, malnourished. I know when I'm starving I don't really think straight...
However, like the OP, I didn't understand the landlord thing either.
it worked for me, here's why
It's a true *beep* story *beep*
Actually the true story is even more ridiculous than the movie. look it up "The Affair of the four abandoned children of Sugamo" (1988)
you should read the real story, the kids is actually living by themselves for 9 month, they never go to school and we can think that they are just a kid and no adult to teach them the basic common sense.
THRILLER IS MY FOOD!
What you are probably missing is the very low-crime, ostensibly "honorable" context of Japan in the 1980s. It was the kind of place where you could leave your purse on the metro and be pretty sure that it would be returned to you.
When you watch the film again, make a point to notice how clean the streets are, how well kept the parks are, but with bits of the frayed edges here and there put in to emphasize the subject of the film, which deals with what can really happen underneath that superficially-perfect society, where the fabric has completely unraveled.
Think of what the neighborhood parks in New York City were looking like in 1988. Try to imagine a 12 year old walking on the streets of Cleveland alone. Honor was the glue to the Japanese society, crime rates were ridiculously low, and, taken in that light, its also not so implausible to me that the landlord would not have evicted these children. The concept of child abandonment, something that, along with rape, murder and the other litany of evils that parade across our 5:00 news shows every night, Americans have come to think of as no-big-deal. To a Japanese, these things would have been so disgracefully beneath the dignity of their nice clean, peaceful society that you could imagine how these children could have gone for a year without anyone acknowledging their situation and stepping in to help them.
"It was the kind of place where you could leave your purse on the metro and be pretty sure that it would be returned to you."
True story: I bought a very expensive purse for my mom. I made a call at a phone booth (back when there were phone booths), and left the purse in the shopping bag next to the phone by mistake. 1.5 hours later when I realized it, I went back and the purse was still there.
Having said that, I agree with Edess. This movie was about children who were children. What makes sense to us as adults does not necessarily make sense to or even crosses the minds of children.
Twice during the movie, I winced at the fact they were buying frivolous items like toys when they should have been saving their money. But the fact is, they were kids.
Yes. I've been watching a couple of Japanese dramas and for me, i noticed that the Japanese child actors in these are very terse and wooden, and i can't seem to get into them much. I feel like Scandinavian child actors seem to be much raw and real, especially films like "The Hunt", "Pelle and the Conqueror". It was an ok film, but nothing special.
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