Maborosi (1995)

The Japanese film Maboroshi no hikari was shown in the U.S. with the title Maborosi (1995). It was directed by Hirokazu Koreeda.This is a unique film. There's almost no direct action in the movie. Bad things happen. In fact, the plot is based on the reaction of the protagonist to bad events in her life. However, all of these tragic events take place off screen. Some of them are implied and never stated.At the very beginning of the movie, a young girl named Yumiko pleads with her grandmother not to leave their home. The old woman walks on anyway, and, that evening, she is still missing. In the next scene, Yumiko is a grown woman with a husband and a three-month old baby. We have to assume that her grandmother never was found.The cinematography was very unusual in the film. Scenes progress very slowly. For example, in a typical U.S. movie, we would see a train in a long shot, then much closer, and then pulling into a station. Not so here. We see the train in a very long shot, and then we watch for two more minutes as it comes closer and closer, and finally arrives. All this is done using the same camera and the same lens. The train comes closer as it would if we were actually watching it arrive in real time.In addition, for indoor scenes, director Koreeda uses the technique of setting up his camera close to the floor, so we see the actors as we'd see them if we, too, were sitting on the floor. Director Yasujirō Ozu used this device to great advantage, as does director Koreeda.Again, like Ozu, Koreeda makes the location of a scene as important as the actions of the actors at that location. He may show us a room into which the actors enter and interact. After they leave the room, we still see some frames of the room. When you think about it, the room has been there before the people enter, and will continue to be there after they leave. We don't normally think of it that way, but that is the reality. I don't normally mention cinematographers in my reviews, but the cinematographer of this movie was Masao Nakabori, and his work is extraordinary.This film will rise or fall depending on the acting skills of the protagonist. Yumiko is portrayed by the actress and model Makiko Esumi. She is superb in the role of a young woman who looks forward to a peaceful and relatively uneventful life. That's not how matters turn out, and the story revolves around the life that she actually receives, and how she responds to that life.We saw Maborosi at home, on the small screen. It would work better in a theater, because there are some glorious views of the Sea of Japan (East Sea). However, unless you're very lucky, you'll have to see the film on the small screen, where it works well enough.Maborosi is carrying a strong IMDb rating of 7.6. I think it's even better than that. It's worth seeking out and watching. Just don't expect martial arts or explosions. It's a very quiet film.

This was the directing debut for director Hirokazu Koreeda. It was also the movie debut for Makiko Ezumi in the lead role.Yumiko's (Makiko Ezumi) grandmother ran away from home when she was twelve. She had deep regrets about not being able to stop her grandmother. Yumiko marries Ikuo (Tadanobu Asano) when she was 25. Ikuo somehow reminded her of her grandmother. Yumiko bears a son Yuuichi (Gohki Kashiyama), but one day without any notice, Ikuo commits suicide by walking in front of a train. Few years later, Yumiko is relocated to a town in Okunoto area of Japan. There she remarries with Tamio (Tsuyoshi Naito). Tamio is a widower and has a daughter Tomoko (Naomi Watanabe). Yumiko's memory of Ikuo starts to fade in her newly found happiness, but when she attended her brother's wedding, she starts to be haunted by Ikuo's memory again. Yumiko in her desperation runs away from home, and encounters a funeral where the coffin is carried to the rocks by the sea and is set on fire. Yumiko stands there watching the funeral pyre burning, when Tamio who came looking for her finds her. Yumiko asks Tamio "Why did Ikuo commit suicide ? I still can't understand why !". Tamio answers "My father who was a fisherman told me that he used to see Maboroshi (Illusion) lights in the horizon that beckoned him to come." and tells Yumiko "Anyone has a moment like that.". As if Tamio's words exorcised Yumiko's heart, Yumiko finds peace and happiness with her family again. Following Spring, she was sitting peacefully with Tamio's father by the inner garden of their home, watching the sun go down.The tone of the story is very much similar to many of the movies made by director Koreeda. It's almost like a darker, rougher version of his more recent movie "Still walking". There are no single point to the movie, except for people lost in their lives (which seems to be Koreeda's theme). His tone is lightening up these days, and his movies have more mass appeal now, but this movie has one of the darkest moods out of all his films. It's also a very difficult film to understand, which I think will limit its audiences. If you like artsy movies, this movie is for you.

The story is told with a large economy of words, of actions, of images: it is a supremely ascetic film. The people are always in the distance, the images always in the dark. The only images that are clear are the scenes remembered by the protagonist: the woman that lost her first spouse.It is a very radical cinematographic approach. I would say that it cannot be more radical than that. It is the movie from the mind of the protagonist.But if you have the guts to follow this ascetic movie you'll be generously rewarded. Because it is actually an exquisite artwork. Yes, many images are left in obscurity: it is actually a great play of light and obscure. As for the images that have meaning for the protagonist, the camera is in such moments like caressing the whole: the scenery becomes then pure visual choreography.

If we capture Osama Bin Laden, where making him watch this movie for as long as he lives. All the joy in life he'll have is hearing the tape rewind. Watching paint dry is more fun. Id rather watch the hairs on my legs grow then watch this movie, because there is actually a little excitement in that. Oh my god, i almost died watching this movie. My breath was getting shorter because my brain was frying in my head. I couldn't escape, the clasp of this movie was too strong. It pierced my eyes like a thousand scorpions. This is THE WORST MOVIE ever made, ever. I would rather watch the world tournament of quiet game then watch this movie. This movie was so depressing, i saw people about to slit their wrists halfway through. The music made you want to barf, because all it was was sad, depressing demented music that made you want to jump out the 10th floor window.