Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Stars: Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka, Ayaka Shibutani, Hazuki Kikuchi, Hiroyuki Miura

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s follow up to his sublime Haruki Murakami adaptation ‘Drive My Car’ is a more oblique, but endlessly compelling affair. The setting is Mizubiki, a small woodland village just outside of Tokyo. Woodcutter Takumi (Hitoshi Omika) lives with his eight-year-old daughter Hana (Ryo Nishikawa) in a cabin. As well as chopping wood, Takumi does odd jobs for the locals and fetches local water from the stream for a local noodle restaurant. He and his neighbouring villagers are alarmed by news of a Tokyo company that has bought a large amount of surrounding land to be turned into a ‘glamping site’ for their big city neighbours, and how a septic tank may poison the village’s water supply. A perfunctory and grimly amusing community consultation event takes place with clueless company representatives hired from a TV talent agency. Later we find the actors playing the company reps are just as discontent and unsure as the villagers. The script is elusive but rich with potential meaning and dotted with moments of drollery. Occasionally the drama pauses, and lengthy shots of nature and the sky encourage us to reflect on the themes presented, while Eiko Ishibashi’s eclectic score featuring electric strums and classical pieces occasionally drops out abruptly to unnerving effect. The conclusion is shocking, but in retrospect, feels oddly inevitable.

David Willoughby

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