COLD BLOOM / BEHEATH ROWS OF BLOSSOMING CHERRY TREES [Lit.] (SAKURA NAMIKI NO MANKAI NO SHITA NI). Viewed on Streaming. Subtitles = eight (8) stars; lighting = six (6) stars; cinematography = five (5) stars. Director Atsushi Funahashi (who is credited also as script co-writer) provides a taut and well-crafted story of a women who travels from blissful happiness to unadulterated hatred to ultimate forgiveness to, well, be determined. It's quite a ride! The Director's small metal-stamping factory drama or "kouba-geki" (which could be classified as a subcategory of "shomin-geki" or home-drama film genre) begins with the abrupt end of a recent marriage (between shop workers) when the husband is killed (on the job) due to the reckless action of a co-worker, continues on with the grieving wife having to work side-by-side with her husband's totally remorseful "terminator" (other jobs seem unavailable in this economically-depressed region), and ends up (a year or two later) with the widow falling in love with the hapless fellow (and vice versa) who has by now given up on her and decided to move on. Funahashi trots out Sakura (yet again) to mark the passage of time, although he ends his tale in a refreshingly open-ended and unsettled manner. This is a film that shows something rarely seen in modern movies: domestic blue-collar factory workers. At first glance, lead actress Asami Usuda seems miscast as an enhanced-lips glamorous wife/widow holding down a blue-collar job (inappropriate makeup and lighting often don't help matters). But it soon becomes apparent that Usuda is an especially talented performer who has created a psychological deep-dive portrait of a woman who is confronted with drastically contrasting feelings and ultimately manages to resolve them. It's a fascinating performance! Cinematography (2.35 : 1, color) captures the sinister nature of the ocean (even on clear days) and smooth moving shots on highways. Most/all hand-held shots, however, jump and weave about causing scene depreciation. Lighting is generally good except for a few under lit interior shots and loss of facial details when performers are shot using the sky as background. Subtitles are just about right. Highly recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
2 Reviews
Life and Death and everything in between
kosmasp4 August 2013
I did watch this movie as part of the Berlin International Film Festival this February, but even after a few months, it is hard to process what I watched. Even harder to write something coherent about it. The loss of a person and what effect it has to those stricken by his death are devastating. In this case this is not all we get to see. There are more factors to be considered.
Acting-wise this is great, but the pace it is moving, will surely appall a lot of people. In my mind this is more than underrated, but I guess it's in the eye of the Beholder as always. The director has the sense of how to deal with feelings and how to show things, with and without using dialog. The ending is another topic that one could write a lot of things about. I think it's a perfect fit for the movie, but of course even that may be too much for some.
Acting-wise this is great, but the pace it is moving, will surely appall a lot of people. In my mind this is more than underrated, but I guess it's in the eye of the Beholder as always. The director has the sense of how to deal with feelings and how to show things, with and without using dialog. The ending is another topic that one could write a lot of things about. I think it's a perfect fit for the movie, but of course even that may be too much for some.
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