The manager of a small pancake stall finds his product is suddenly a neighbourhood sensation after an old woman shows up and changes his recipe. But old prejudices rear their head to scupper short-lived happiness.
This is a relatively prosaic outing for writer-director Kawase, a film that eschews the lyricism and frustratingly enigmatic self-orientalising tropes of Moe no Suzaku or Mogari no Mori, for a greater concern with narrative cause-and-effect. Masatoshi Nagase is suitably brooding and mysterious as the weary manager of the stall, tolerant if not indulgent of the inane chatter of schoolgirls who occupy his workplace like a clubhouse. Kirin Kiki is her usual charismatic and maverick self, managing to bring humanity and pathos to a role that could easily have been cloying and maudlin. The storyline of the older women bringing hope to a man with a crushing past works well, Tokue proving a catalyst to stop the manager going through the motions and start living again. The film also functions as an educational piece on the discrimination historically meted out to sufferers of Hansen's disease, or leprosy, in Japan. This part is less effective, following the well-worn trope of having a schoolkid come along so the adults can relate the hidden history she knows nothing about. Heavy-handed and flat, it ill-serves the narrative, and slightly trivializes an ugly but fascinating aspect of Japan's social history.
Kawase does not totally leave behind her shamanistic/animistic leanings: there are the usual hand-held shots of sunlight glinting through treetops, and some cod-philosophy on the power of the moon. She hones excellent performances from Kirin and especially Nagase, whose edges seem all too brittle and authentic. A small film with a big heart, that makes a quiet but powerful point.
This is a relatively prosaic outing for writer-director Kawase, a film that eschews the lyricism and frustratingly enigmatic self-orientalising tropes of Moe no Suzaku or Mogari no Mori, for a greater concern with narrative cause-and-effect. Masatoshi Nagase is suitably brooding and mysterious as the weary manager of the stall, tolerant if not indulgent of the inane chatter of schoolgirls who occupy his workplace like a clubhouse. Kirin Kiki is her usual charismatic and maverick self, managing to bring humanity and pathos to a role that could easily have been cloying and maudlin. The storyline of the older women bringing hope to a man with a crushing past works well, Tokue proving a catalyst to stop the manager going through the motions and start living again. The film also functions as an educational piece on the discrimination historically meted out to sufferers of Hansen's disease, or leprosy, in Japan. This part is less effective, following the well-worn trope of having a schoolkid come along so the adults can relate the hidden history she knows nothing about. Heavy-handed and flat, it ill-serves the narrative, and slightly trivializes an ugly but fascinating aspect of Japan's social history.
Kawase does not totally leave behind her shamanistic/animistic leanings: there are the usual hand-held shots of sunlight glinting through treetops, and some cod-philosophy on the power of the moon. She hones excellent performances from Kirin and especially Nagase, whose edges seem all too brittle and authentic. A small film with a big heart, that makes a quiet but powerful point.