I have a fundamental problem with this story that I have to get off my chest before I begin my review proper. The real story of Hachiko is now shrouded in mythology but the 25 word summary is it is the story of a dog who was abandoned by his family and neglected by an entire society until he died a miserable, sick bag of bones. How convenient that the story of the dog's incredible fidelity to his master provides sufficient "awh" power for us to overlook this ugly side of the story.
So, here we have an ugly story sugar-coated and served up to put all humans involved in the best possible light. The daughter and her family abandons him and is given a noble reason for doing so. The mother does the same and we are supposed to believe she cares because she bows a lot. She salves her conscience by giving some street vendors a few yen to tide Hachiko over for the next day or two. What a woman. Someone else takes him in for a while but she too has to leave and sends Hachiko on his way with noble pleas to "be free" and other ridiculous rubbish. All the railway travelers stream past Hachiko as he waits but no-one, it seems, really gives a toss. Someone tell me this is a dignified picture of humanity.
OK, I've had my rant, enough of the story itself, now I'll get on with the review. I saw the American version of this first and while it was well enough done I felt it in no way reached its full potential. I had high hopes for the original Japanese version, first because it is the "authentic" Japanese story and second because Japanese productions often have a way of capturing subtlety that Western productions do not. It is disappointing to report the Japanese version did not really do it for me either. The key aspect missing in both versions is the lack of the establishment of a believable relationship between the "Master" and the dog, something that is absolutely pivotal to explaining the loyalty which is sole raison d'etre for this story. We spend far too long getting the dog to the Master, something that is entirely irrelevant to the story, leaving a pitiful amount of time to see the dog growing up and bonding with the Master. Yes, we have a few set-piece interactions, the Master rescuing the dog from the storm, and rather bizarrely and totally unrealistically, even bathing with it. But these are not the things that either form or show relationships, it is the myriad little things, a lick, a closeness, a quiet word, a shifting closer, a shadowing, a rubbing, a howling, a whimpering that show real affection, and of these there are none. Alas, by the time the Master kicks the bucket I really had no feeling for any form of true bond between the two. Strange as it may sound perhaps part of this has to do with the "acting" of the dog. I know nothing about akitas but based on the one(s) stared in this movie they seem to be a breed of some seriousness and little expressiveness, and this makes it difficult to get a feeling of closeness. To be honest, beautiful as the dog was, he displayed very little emotion, so we really have to take the relationship with his Master on faith. To compound this the dog's expressions of devotion after the master's death are not taken to their natural conclusion so that we can judge their full effect. We see the dog enter the formal funeral ceremony but we don't really see him do anything. We see him run after the car to the funeral but we never see him at the funeral. For some reason we also see the Mother and Daughter just look back at him. Do they stop and pick him up I wonder? We see the dog arrive back at his Master's old home after traveling half way across Tokyo, but we don't see the journey and the hardships he endured to be there. We don't see Hachiko's life and struggles as a stray, how and where he lived and how he suffered to do what he did. It is all a little strange. Instead we spend a lot of time on humans few of whom seem to have any redeeming features and who add nothing to the core story of Hachiko himself.
On a technical level the production values are high, although the music for the first part is ridiculously cheesy, anachronistic and jarring – it sounds like it was generated on a budget Casio keyboard. It is somewhat of a surprise and a relief when a real score appears later in the piece, and then, blow me down, if the Casio doesn't appear at the very end to ruin the climax.
So, in summary, we have two version of Hachiko and neither of them do justice to the story for the same reasons. Sadly it looks like poor Hachiko is as poorly served by humans in death as he was in life. Rest in Peace Hachiko.
So, here we have an ugly story sugar-coated and served up to put all humans involved in the best possible light. The daughter and her family abandons him and is given a noble reason for doing so. The mother does the same and we are supposed to believe she cares because she bows a lot. She salves her conscience by giving some street vendors a few yen to tide Hachiko over for the next day or two. What a woman. Someone else takes him in for a while but she too has to leave and sends Hachiko on his way with noble pleas to "be free" and other ridiculous rubbish. All the railway travelers stream past Hachiko as he waits but no-one, it seems, really gives a toss. Someone tell me this is a dignified picture of humanity.
OK, I've had my rant, enough of the story itself, now I'll get on with the review. I saw the American version of this first and while it was well enough done I felt it in no way reached its full potential. I had high hopes for the original Japanese version, first because it is the "authentic" Japanese story and second because Japanese productions often have a way of capturing subtlety that Western productions do not. It is disappointing to report the Japanese version did not really do it for me either. The key aspect missing in both versions is the lack of the establishment of a believable relationship between the "Master" and the dog, something that is absolutely pivotal to explaining the loyalty which is sole raison d'etre for this story. We spend far too long getting the dog to the Master, something that is entirely irrelevant to the story, leaving a pitiful amount of time to see the dog growing up and bonding with the Master. Yes, we have a few set-piece interactions, the Master rescuing the dog from the storm, and rather bizarrely and totally unrealistically, even bathing with it. But these are not the things that either form or show relationships, it is the myriad little things, a lick, a closeness, a quiet word, a shifting closer, a shadowing, a rubbing, a howling, a whimpering that show real affection, and of these there are none. Alas, by the time the Master kicks the bucket I really had no feeling for any form of true bond between the two. Strange as it may sound perhaps part of this has to do with the "acting" of the dog. I know nothing about akitas but based on the one(s) stared in this movie they seem to be a breed of some seriousness and little expressiveness, and this makes it difficult to get a feeling of closeness. To be honest, beautiful as the dog was, he displayed very little emotion, so we really have to take the relationship with his Master on faith. To compound this the dog's expressions of devotion after the master's death are not taken to their natural conclusion so that we can judge their full effect. We see the dog enter the formal funeral ceremony but we don't really see him do anything. We see him run after the car to the funeral but we never see him at the funeral. For some reason we also see the Mother and Daughter just look back at him. Do they stop and pick him up I wonder? We see the dog arrive back at his Master's old home after traveling half way across Tokyo, but we don't see the journey and the hardships he endured to be there. We don't see Hachiko's life and struggles as a stray, how and where he lived and how he suffered to do what he did. It is all a little strange. Instead we spend a lot of time on humans few of whom seem to have any redeeming features and who add nothing to the core story of Hachiko himself.
On a technical level the production values are high, although the music for the first part is ridiculously cheesy, anachronistic and jarring – it sounds like it was generated on a budget Casio keyboard. It is somewhat of a surprise and a relief when a real score appears later in the piece, and then, blow me down, if the Casio doesn't appear at the very end to ruin the climax.
So, in summary, we have two version of Hachiko and neither of them do justice to the story for the same reasons. Sadly it looks like poor Hachiko is as poorly served by humans in death as he was in life. Rest in Peace Hachiko.