Colorful is a somewhat deceitfully named animation by Keichi Hara that was the opening film of the "East Side Stories" touring film programme by the Japan Foundation (London)[1]
. The festival screening schedule is quite nice as it seems to showcase films that have not had wider releases[2]
outside of Japan which is the kind of thing that JPF should be trying to do and for that I applaud them (not literally, unless I am at a screening or talk or something).
Animation may not seem the most appropriate medium for stories about suicide - often used as a way of showing the fripperies of fantasy and being a cheaper way of creating outlandish stories and worlds. "Colorful"[3]
starts off in an otherworld - some kind of limbo for souls where faceless and almost formless beings trudge towards a door. The door would transport them (via train, naturally) to the next stage of life as the almost formless beings are souls without bodies. In fact the viewer is actually a soul as the film starts in a first person perspective which always reminds me of games[4] and only switches to a more conventional 3rd person after a rather neat story transition. A small, silver-haired boy greets you before you go to the train to explain that you have, through dint of chance, been partially redeemed as a soul and will get the opportunity to drop into the life of another person (a little like Quantum Leap) to help you learn from your own mistakes. The boy, Purapura, acts as a guide when he sees fit so he might give a few background details but not all. Is he an angel? Even he does not seem sure.
You then find yourself in a hospital bed with your "parents" crying at your dead body as you regain consciousness - the first thing you ask for? A mirror of course.
After that, Makoto, for that is the body now inhabited, is dropped into the family life quite excitedly - he has been resurrected after all. He returns to special meals and talkative parents, everything seemingly fine. Makoto wonders why the boy whose body he know inhabits would have committed suicide if everything was fine. That must mean that everything wasn't fine.
You then find yourself in a hospital bed with your "parents" crying at your dead body as you regain consciousness - the first thing you ask for? A mirror of course.
After that, Makoto, for that is the body now inhabited, is dropped into the family life quite excitedly - he has been resurrected after all. He returns to special meals and talkative parents, everything seemingly fine. Makoto wonders why the boy whose body he know inhabits would have committed suicide if everything was fine. That must mean that everything wasn't fine.
After the first meal, Purapura returns to provide a little more information (initially to explain the house's layout, and where Makoto's room is, for instance) about the situation. Makoto committed suicide a day after seeing something, what was that and why did it cause such a large reaction? After this point, the thrust of the story is that of a "mystery" of finding why.
As the film progresses, some of the issues that are under the surface unravel and you learn a lot about the family and, more importantly the family interactions. I think it is fair to say that some are a little culturally specific (well the manifestations are - or maybe just seem different cos they have a name) but most are quite universal.
Makoto's homelife was quite difficult for him but he was quite safe there unlike in his school. Ranked 32 in his class of 32, he was not bullied for being clever (or stupid, in fact), he was just bullied. Being beaten and mocked throughout his time when new Makoto walks in and talks, it is quite the revelation. This is something that is shown a few times, how acting in an apparently normal way - interacting with those around him, there is a lot of surprise. Makoto was also a bit of an artist and was a member of the art club so he would go after school and paint (tortured artists maybe?) but he still had no actual friends there - but there was one girl who took an interest in him. And another girl he took an interest in. The story does not play out as any kind of love triangle but it is quite a neat way to introduce some of the ideas of not always comprehending that other people do comprehend you - and others do not.
There are quite a lot of social issues brought up with the relatively small number of characters along with the aforementioned bullying such as extra-marital affairs, "compensated dating[5]", exam pressure, salaryman lifestyles, sacrifice and of course suicide itself amongst other things. Without wanting to give too much of it away, I won't go into details but it is a fairly dense slice of life depicted. And once those problems remount, Makoto returns to a feeling of depression. The melancholy atmosphere is captured very well and reminded me a lot of Melancholia (2011 film by Lars Von Trier) which is a stark and brilliant depiction of the sadness behind someone's eyes.
The film is not all sad, and Makoto does make some progress towards redemption - a friendship with a classmate, Saotome. I felt that this was also very well realised as they bump into each other in the street and follow the trail of an abandoned (and pretty short) tram line. As they walk along, the excitement of Saotome is clearly infectious for both Makoto and the audience and it really seemed to capture that mixture of nostalgia and imagined sentimentality that comes with retracing footsteps. And the friendship that results is also shown throughout as a simple, and beautiful, one.
As a film, I found it hugely entertaining (I am not sure "enjoyable" is appropriate with the subject matter) and with a strong moral throughout. It is a relatively simple film but it is expertly crafted with real thought into how the characters fit together into the puzzle of the plot and lovely details throughout. I would highly recommend that you watch it if you get the chance. As I said, it does not seem to have wide distribution that it deserves so you really should take the chance if it arises. Somehow...
Trailer here:
Makoto's homelife was quite difficult for him but he was quite safe there unlike in his school. Ranked 32 in his class of 32, he was not bullied for being clever (or stupid, in fact), he was just bullied. Being beaten and mocked throughout his time when new Makoto walks in and talks, it is quite the revelation. This is something that is shown a few times, how acting in an apparently normal way - interacting with those around him, there is a lot of surprise. Makoto was also a bit of an artist and was a member of the art club so he would go after school and paint (tortured artists maybe?) but he still had no actual friends there - but there was one girl who took an interest in him. And another girl he took an interest in. The story does not play out as any kind of love triangle but it is quite a neat way to introduce some of the ideas of not always comprehending that other people do comprehend you - and others do not.
There are quite a lot of social issues brought up with the relatively small number of characters along with the aforementioned bullying such as extra-marital affairs, "compensated dating[5]", exam pressure, salaryman lifestyles, sacrifice and of course suicide itself amongst other things. Without wanting to give too much of it away, I won't go into details but it is a fairly dense slice of life depicted. And once those problems remount, Makoto returns to a feeling of depression. The melancholy atmosphere is captured very well and reminded me a lot of Melancholia (2011 film by Lars Von Trier) which is a stark and brilliant depiction of the sadness behind someone's eyes.
The film is not all sad, and Makoto does make some progress towards redemption - a friendship with a classmate, Saotome. I felt that this was also very well realised as they bump into each other in the street and follow the trail of an abandoned (and pretty short) tram line. As they walk along, the excitement of Saotome is clearly infectious for both Makoto and the audience and it really seemed to capture that mixture of nostalgia and imagined sentimentality that comes with retracing footsteps. And the friendship that results is also shown throughout as a simple, and beautiful, one.
As a film, I found it hugely entertaining (I am not sure "enjoyable" is appropriate with the subject matter) and with a strong moral throughout. It is a relatively simple film but it is expertly crafted with real thought into how the characters fit together into the puzzle of the plot and lovely details throughout. I would highly recommend that you watch it if you get the chance. As I said, it does not seem to have wide distribution that it deserves so you really should take the chance if it arises. Somehow...
Trailer here:
1. I went to see this at the ICA which is a nice venue that few seem aware of. The cinema is not too bad but in this case, I was disappointed at the poor projection. As the film started, the panning was very jerky, though I am aware this is something I notice more than a lot of other people (annoyingly, considering my general eye problems). It also seemed to be at a fairly low resolution and low bitrate in places. It was a very good-looking film in general (not in a showy way at all though) so it was a bit of a shame that those details were not dealt with. I really would expect better from ICA as they are not a purely commercial venture.
There was also a Director's Q&A after the event which was interesting as he described some of the production details and the basis for adapting the novel.↩
2. In terms of worldwide distribution, I think a lot of Japanese cinema has hit a bit of a brick wall and it is hard to sell film outside of "type". I was struck, when I initially went to Japan, that the Japanese films that I had seen had not been seen by that many Japanese people I met. The more "extreme" end of the market is not very big in Japan, as it is not here, but it has become almost synonymous with the cinema of the country. Similarly, anime, which is a pretty broad medium in reality, has a relatively fixed market outside Japan and so it can be difficult to get traction for these kinds of films. Contemplative films don't necessarily travel well, but would guess this would distribute easier if it were French, say. I guess in the same way French horror does not get talked about much.↩
2. In terms of worldwide distribution, I think a lot of Japanese cinema has hit a bit of a brick wall and it is hard to sell film outside of "type". I was struck, when I initially went to Japan, that the Japanese films that I had seen had not been seen by that many Japanese people I met. The more "extreme" end of the market is not very big in Japan, as it is not here, but it has become almost synonymous with the cinema of the country. Similarly, anime, which is a pretty broad medium in reality, has a relatively fixed market outside Japan and so it can be difficult to get traction for these kinds of films. Contemplative films don't necessarily travel well, but would guess this would distribute easier if it were French, say. I guess in the same way French horror does not get talked about much.↩
3. We all know the word is not spelt like this but the film is titled such.↩
4. The way that the scene itself plays reminded me a lot of the "Ace Attorney" series of games which are essentially adventure/mystery games where you often get talking heads over the top of hand-drawn backgrounds.↩
5. Enjo-kōsai (援助交際) means "compensated dating" and is the act of dating whereby there is some form of "payment" which could be in the form of gifts or cold, hard cash. There has been a long term furore in Japan about this and often involves middle aged men compensating school girls - this seems to be the most common depiction of it though I cannot be sure it is the most common in actuality.↩
4. The way that the scene itself plays reminded me a lot of the "Ace Attorney" series of games which are essentially adventure/mystery games where you often get talking heads over the top of hand-drawn backgrounds.↩
5. Enjo-kōsai (援助交際) means "compensated dating" and is the act of dating whereby there is some form of "payment" which could be in the form of gifts or cold, hard cash. There has been a long term furore in Japan about this and often involves middle aged men compensating school girls - this seems to be the most common depiction of it though I cannot be sure it is the most common in actuality.↩
