Since 2004 The Japan Foundation has been showcasing films that represent the prolific and diverse output of a unique national cinema. The foundation puts together an annual catalogue, loosely collected by a theme and tours them around the UK’s independent/arthouse venues. This year, the Japan Foundation’s touring film programme is entitled ‘Happiness is a state of mind: Joy and despair in Japanese Cinema’, and offers a collection of 19 films visiting 22 venues across the UK. The tour takes in multiple venues at any one time so check the listings at www.jpf-film.org.uk as they are probably already screening a programme at your local venue.
HOME plays host to six films between Feb 11th and Feb 29th and the first offering was ‘Ano Hi No Orugan’ (Hiramatsu, E. 2019) or ‘Organ’ to give the film its English language title. The film takes place in 1944 Tokyo as a group of nursery teachers convince parents to entrust their children to them and let them evacuate them to a remote temple to avoid impending US airstrikes. The initial reluctance soon gives way to stoic resolve and the handful of ‘childcare providers’ (as they are oft referred to in the film) undertake the restoration of the temple and their new found role of surrogate parents to dozens of young children. As the war rages, the women are forced to negotiate prejudice from the local villagers, the realities of war, the children’s anxieties and their own personal growth.
Despite being a contemporary film, ‘Organ’ harks back to the Japanese tradition of the Haha Mono (yes. Really!), which the famed academic and ‘japanophile’ Donald Richie describes as a testament to mothers and cannot hide the influence of Keisuke Kinoshita’s ‘Twenty Four Eyes’ (1954) a beloved classic of Japan’s post-war golden era about a schoolteacher under Japan’s militarist regime. ‘Organ’ is, in the most reductive sense of the word, a women’s film in that it is about women, for women and written and directed by a woman, but also in the old fashioned sense of the word, as it features letter-writing voiceovers, furtive romances and characters affectionately sharing smiles in lingering shot-reverse-shot scenes. With the adult cast mostly consisting of women, the film easily passes the Bechdel test and is the tale of women finding strength and unity together amidst terrible circumstances. It is an inspiring tale told with warmth, and admiration.
Writer/Director Emiko Haramatsu has hit upon an interesting true story that should pack an emotional punch, but her tendency towards expository dialogue that has each character explaining exactly how they feel at every plot development quickly becomes intolerable. In a tale set during the US blockade and bombing campaign, the plight of the children and the women who have taken responsibility for them seems to be remarkably twee for most of the film. The primary tone that Haramatsu is aiming for is melodrama, but for a film to evoke sympathetic tears or stiff upper-lipped inspiration, it really needs to place emphasis on the adversity which characters face. Here ‘Organ’ underplays or discards any significant conflicts without proper narrative exploration, instead focusing on emotional reconciliation between the central women. I am loathe to do so, but I am reminded of the TV show ‘Call The Midwife’, which has much of the same issues, and one assumes the same sort of target audience as ‘Organ’, but always manages to inject enough jeopardy and conflict into its episodes to earn its schmaltzy resolutions. Sadly, Emiko Haramatsu has slathered on the sentiment rather too thickly and characters emote, wail and swoon rather too often. One final complaint goes to the film’s title ‘Organ’, which refers to the film’s all too underused coda of the instrument which travels with the children from the nursery and as The Japan Foundation’s very useful notes (written by Jennifer Coates, University of Sheffield) explain “is a symbol of the rich cultural life” that the childcare providers aim to provide for the children. The organ features regularly but never feels central, or emblematic to the theme of the film and as such, the title of this feature could well have been ‘Soggy Futons’, which were much more prominent than said keyboard.
It is clear by now that ‘Organ’ is not my type of film, and I feel that I am not really its target audience, yet through all of my reservations, I found it hard to take against the film. It is a worthy story, it is certainly shot very well with some lovely shot compositions and the writer’s affection for these characters is infectious. If there is such a thing, this is a perfect Sunday evening drama, which is saccharine and presents no challenge for the viewer. My problem lies in its limited aspirations, however in the execution of those, it is hard to fault.
The Japan Foundation’s touring film programme 2020 ‘Happiness is a State of Mind: Joy and Despair in Japanese Cinema’ continues until 29th February and there are still 5 more films to catch.
Reviewer - Ben Hassouna-Smith
on - 11/2/20
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