How do you know what is right?[1]
The direction right is something we probably all know, but how to define it? Maybe if you know how to, you could work on a dictionary compilation team[2].
The Great Passage is a film about the creation of a dictionary, and the (small) team behind it and starts at the beginning - how to put a team together. It is a fairly thankless task, making a dictionary and you have to assume that the vast majority of it will not be read. But it still has to be there, and it still has to be right. What kind of person can put something like that together?
You need to be a certain type of person[3], and not really the kind of person that has been tasked with it already - Nishima played by Joe Odagiri. As a slightly extrovert character, he needs someone a little more serious and so tries to find someone within his company, a certain someone recommended for being a bit weird. As his name is "majime" (this means "serious" in Japanese), he is a perfect fit.
The first part of the film is set in the mid 90s which is illustrated by the slightly different office interiors. They do not look hugely different but the larger computer monitors and suchlike are used to signpost it. There is also a little scene where they discuss the PHS which was, in Japan, a new mobile phone system[4]. This has a a rather neat way of both ageing the scene and also providing an "in" to the reasoning behind a new dictionary. Society is about to absorb a massive new batch of words based on the changes promoted by technology (and, arguably it will breathe life and kill off words more quickly than ever before) and so a dictionary is required for these new words. The manager of the department seems quite passionate about this and so the team must collect these new words (on little "usage cards") as they crop up with "field trips" to exciting places such as fast food restaurants - schoolgirls are most proficient, after all, at moving language forward. This does make the team look a bit like creepy old men though, when they get spotted. Kimoi.
3. I had a conversation recently where it was suggested that you have to be better at either words or numbers. I think a few polymaths may disagree but I guess there may be a very low likelihood of being equally adept at both. This is definitely a wordy type of guy requirement. I think I am more numbers.↩
4. I noticed this name in 1997 when I played Final Fantasy 7. In the days before widespread internet usage, I remember being amazed by the system (although it was used a bit differently in the game).↩br /> 5. Diane meets Renton in a club and he buys her a drink:
"Do you find that this approach usually works? Or let me guess, you've never tried it before. In fact, you don't normally approach girls - am I right? The truth is that you're a quiet sensitive type but, if I'm prepared to take a chance, I might just get to know the inner you: witty, adventurous, passionate, loving, loyal. Taxi! A little bit crazy, a little bit bad. But hey - don't us girls just love that?"↩
6. I only wish it were true ;-)↩
7. The joy reminds me a lot of the scene in Colorful where they trace a train line out - a film that Aoi Miyazaki also voiced (which I did not realise at the time.↩
The first half of the film is really about the development of the character Majime (played by Ryuhei Matsuda) as he progresses, a little, from the socially awkward to the slightly less socially awkward. This is helped by the introduction to his house of Kaguya (the ever watchable Aoi Miyazaki) who is a sushi chef in training.
The second part of the film is really about the hardships endure to get the dictionary out in time and this is set in the 2000s - some 13 years later. This shows the amount of time taken and how little the characters in the first half have really changed but the motivation needed to get there.
As I mentioned, the film is really broken up into two with character development in the first and resolve shown in the second.
The first part revolves around the differences of Majime and Nishima with the classic stereotypes of socially reclusive (illustrated by many books and reading at lunchtimes) and socially active. There are a lot of parts of Majime's character that I can relate to, with his inability to speak and being a bit lost throughout with many social situations. This is basically resolved for him when he meets Kaguya (in a lovely scene mixing a cat and "cute" up) which a is a simple plot device. This kind of scene, and romance, where an attractive girl somehow falls for the slightly odd guy always reminds me of a scene in Trainspotting[5] and always feels a bit fake. Well, you don't often see it happen in reality, do you? It just seems a little bit too "wish fulfillment"-y for my liking. it is a pretty common trope though so I cannot hold it against the film too much[6]. I guess, in the film, Kaguya is also shown to have her difficulties so it is not entirely unbelievable. She is also pretty focused on being a chef and lives that dedicated life too. There is a lot in common, to be fair , and the scene where she takes him to Kappabashi to buy knives is an infective one [7] which leads to a pseudo-date to a (famous) theme park. This also has a resonant scene, for me, where she asks an aimless and rhetorical question about the inventor of the observation wheel. Majime starts to look this up in his dictionary which is funny as it seems so ridiculous with a book, but so many people now do this with Google - and that still seems ridiculous to me. And, maybe just me nowadays.
Once they, obviously, get together, the second part of the film is jumped to, 13 years hence. It shows the detail and dedication that the team go to to meet their deadline shown most clearly with the selection of the paper for the dictionary, it must be light and sticky to the right degree. A selection that is shown to be seemingly too fussy but the right thing to do eventually. The pursuit of perfection is kind of like that I guess.
I found the film itself to be pretty enjoyable with the right mix of lightness and seriousness. It is not particularly outlandish and it is nice to focus on the smaller dramas of life and work every so often - this is not covered too much in films I feel. As it is not a heavy film, it feels quite well crafted and just the kind of relaxing film that fits into a Sunday afternoon.
You can see a trailer here:
The first part revolves around the differences of Majime and Nishima with the classic stereotypes of socially reclusive (illustrated by many books and reading at lunchtimes) and socially active. There are a lot of parts of Majime's character that I can relate to, with his inability to speak and being a bit lost throughout with many social situations. This is basically resolved for him when he meets Kaguya (in a lovely scene mixing a cat and "cute" up) which a is a simple plot device. This kind of scene, and romance, where an attractive girl somehow falls for the slightly odd guy always reminds me of a scene in Trainspotting[5] and always feels a bit fake. Well, you don't often see it happen in reality, do you? It just seems a little bit too "wish fulfillment"-y for my liking. it is a pretty common trope though so I cannot hold it against the film too much[6]. I guess, in the film, Kaguya is also shown to have her difficulties so it is not entirely unbelievable. She is also pretty focused on being a chef and lives that dedicated life too. There is a lot in common, to be fair , and the scene where she takes him to Kappabashi to buy knives is an infective one [7] which leads to a pseudo-date to a (famous) theme park. This also has a resonant scene, for me, where she asks an aimless and rhetorical question about the inventor of the observation wheel. Majime starts to look this up in his dictionary which is funny as it seems so ridiculous with a book, but so many people now do this with Google - and that still seems ridiculous to me. And, maybe just me nowadays.
Once they, obviously, get together, the second part of the film is jumped to, 13 years hence. It shows the detail and dedication that the team go to to meet their deadline shown most clearly with the selection of the paper for the dictionary, it must be light and sticky to the right degree. A selection that is shown to be seemingly too fussy but the right thing to do eventually. The pursuit of perfection is kind of like that I guess.
I found the film itself to be pretty enjoyable with the right mix of lightness and seriousness. It is not particularly outlandish and it is nice to focus on the smaller dramas of life and work every so often - this is not covered too much in films I feel. As it is not a heavy film, it feels quite well crafted and just the kind of relaxing film that fits into a Sunday afternoon.
You can see a trailer here:
1. Is this the right thing to do? When two meanings are defined by the same word, it is called a homonym. I do get rather a lot of pleasure out of homonyms as they are just common enough to be funny.↩
2. This is the method used for the recruitment the direction of north when facing west...↩3. I had a conversation recently where it was suggested that you have to be better at either words or numbers. I think a few polymaths may disagree but I guess there may be a very low likelihood of being equally adept at both. This is definitely a wordy type of guy requirement. I think I am more numbers.↩
4. I noticed this name in 1997 when I played Final Fantasy 7. In the days before widespread internet usage, I remember being amazed by the system (although it was used a bit differently in the game).↩br /> 5. Diane meets Renton in a club and he buys her a drink:
"Do you find that this approach usually works? Or let me guess, you've never tried it before. In fact, you don't normally approach girls - am I right? The truth is that you're a quiet sensitive type but, if I'm prepared to take a chance, I might just get to know the inner you: witty, adventurous, passionate, loving, loyal. Taxi! A little bit crazy, a little bit bad. But hey - don't us girls just love that?"↩
6. I only wish it were true ;-)↩
7. The joy reminds me a lot of the scene in Colorful where they trace a train line out - a film that Aoi Miyazaki also voiced (which I did not realise at the time.↩
