By Mark Schilling
The Japanese audience has long loved to sigh, snuffle and weep buckets at the sweet
sadness of it all. Thus the ancient convention -- going back to the early days of Kabuki
and beyond -- of lovers parted in the last act, by death, the powers that be or simply the
hero's restless feet. In other words, the exact opposite of the happy Hollywood ending.
What producers have been discovering, with the monster success last year of Isao
Yukisaka's romantic weeper Crying Out Love In the Centre of the World -- nearly $86
million in Japan alone -- as well as the Korean TV drama sensation Winter Sonata, is
that this traditional audience preference has not changed.
If anything, it has grown stronger, in line with the general conservative, retro trend of
Japanese society. One often sited factor in Winter Sonata's popularity is its
resemblance to the blatantly tear-jerking Japanese soaps of a generation ago. Also,
Crying Out harks back to the mid-eighties in its back story of a tragic teenage romance
that haunts its thirtysomething hero, a story it tells with a full-blown emotionalism very
much of its period.
Not surprisingly, film company line-ups for 2005 feature more the same. Post-modern
irony is out, hanky wringing is in. One prominent example is Letters from Kanai Nirai,
(Nirai Kanai Kara no Tegami), Naoto Kumazawa's drama about a girl who goes in
search of a mother she has only known from letters. Yu Aoi, a rising young talent who
worked with Shunji Iwai in All About Lilly Chou Chou and Hana and Alice stars as the
girl. Xanadeux will release in Japan this spring.
Another is Maison de Himiko, Isshin Inudo's new drama about a girl who reconciles with
her dying gay father. Ko Shibasaki, one of Japan's hottest talents after a slew of hits
that includes Crying Out Love, stars, as does Min Tanaka, a Butoh dancer who
appeared in Yoji Yamada's Academy Award-nominated The Twilight Samurai. Director
Inudo also helmed Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, the hit 2003 romance about a college
boy who falls for a cute but cranky disabled girl.
Still another is The Professor's Beloved Formula (Hakase no Aishita Sushiki), Takashi
Koizumi's drama about retired mathematician who is losing his memory. Koizumi, a
long-time AD for Akira Kurosawa, debuted in 1999 with When the Rain Lifts, based on a
Kurosawa script, and followed with Letter from the Mountain in 2002. Star Akira Terao
also worked with Kurosawa on several films and last year starred in Casshern, the
Kazuaki Kiriya retro future thriller that has sold widely abroad. Asmik Ace Entertainment
is handling both films.
Will these and other new heart warmers travel beyond Japan or Asia? Skeptical
Western buyers will need persuading. Tear ducts may be universal -- but the cinematic
pumps that prime them are not.
