Adrastheus

A nice little contemplative indie movie, watching it felt like breathing in the fresh morning-air. I know it is something you have to be in the mood to enjoy, but if you do it can be a very rewarding and thought inspiring experience. I am glad I happened upon it and gave it a chance.

A film about a silent struggle, the silent struggle (and not just in the literary sense) of the movie's mute main character. Watching it felt like it told the story of the silent stuggle of all of us.

In a nutshell there was a huge storm that caused a landslide which turned over the old, abandoned railroad car they were hiding in after they had made up. We see that at the end of the movie they climb out of one of the windows of the overturned railroad car under the rails, crawl through a passage as if through a birth canal (the whole scene is symbolic, it is not coincidence that they are talking about rebirth). If you realize that in the last scene the metal fence is missing which previously closed off the old railroad bridge (the "end of the line" as the kids called it) and that they should have been found by Minato's mother and their teacher who were looking for them in the same traincar previously, then the ending becomes very ambiguous and can be interpreted in two different ways (as the japanese like their stories). I leave it to you to think of what are those possible interpretations, I just say that one of them is very sad.

I remember that when the first time I heard Miyazawa Kenji's poem Ame ni mo makezu in the movie called Letter from the Mountain (2002), I had to pause the film and look up who this guy was, then, after finishing the movie, read his other poems and one or two of his children's tale as well. It is no wonder that apart from Osamu Dazai he is the most referred to novelist and author in japanese movies and cartoons (like in Tatamy Galaxy for example), there is a reason that the japanese are almost obsessed with him. His ideals and the way he lived represents a kind of ideal that resonates well with many, so it is no wonder that this movie, seemingly focusing on his father, was made about his life. Far from perfect, a bit of a tearjerker, but at least I could hear again Ame ni mo Makezu, this time in the interpretation of Koji Yakusho. Hearing it made me emotional again, though this time for different reason than the first time.

Hell, this was a distrubing experience! Sometimes I just had to turn away from the monitor, because my mirror neurons made me feel the same pain that this poor girl was going through. A lot of japanese movies out there that focus on the hardships of being a mother, what it can give or take away from you, showing different joys, struggles and family dinamics but I hardly remember any that was from the perspective of a mother struggling with psychosis. Just wow! Don't let the genre on this site mislead you, it is not horror but a psychological thriller.

A lovely little gem, not perfect, but I could connect to it on so many levels! To me it it showed the five stages of life sometimes through memories, sometimes through concrete or imaginery characters - the giddy blue hour of childhood, the teenage and young adulthood full of dreams and creativity, the disillusioned middle age, the degrading old age and the stage of nearing death. It was about the transition to a new stage, acceptance, moving forward.

Seriously, this movie is most transcendental and terrific trash I have ever seen.

Sixth on my Sakura Ando-run, it turned out to deal with more interesting themes than its premise had given away. It was made more spicy by the fact, that it was written and directed by Sakura's father (including some scenes that are hard to imagine how a father could direct for her own daughter).

It was hard to believe that the japanese closed wards so much lack in safety and security policies.

It was good but a hard watch, my stomach was in knots during its second part.