Naomi Kawase
Japan
Moe no Suzaku (The God Suzaku) is Japanese documentarist Naomi Kawase's first feature. Previously, Kawase has gained some international recognition for her documentaries Embracing and Katasumori, which looked at her relationship with her father and grandmother respectively. Like those earlier works, Moe no Suzaku focuses on family ties.
The film is set in the beautiful and verdant mountain-top village, Nishiyoshino-mura in Nara, Kawase's home province. The town becomes partially abandoned, due to the effects of economic recession, but one family stays on. The head of the family, Tahara Kozo, becomes fixated by plans to build a tunnel to improve the accessibility of the area. Construction begins, but is halted halfway through. Fifteen years later building has still not restarted, and the family is destitute.
Against this backdrop, some family affairs develop. Michiru starts to fall in love with Eisuke, who has been like a brother to her. Eisuke, meanwhile, finds himself attracted to his aunt.
Although Moe no Suzaku is a fictional story, Kawase has used some documentary techniques. The real town has lost many of its population, and also contains a partially completed tunnel. Kawase visited the town for years before making the film, and was helped during shooting by local people. Kawase also renovated an old farmhouse to act as the main set.
The film does not depend heavily on plot, drawing its strength from a highly aesthetic style and some compassionate portrayals of the characters, who seem unable to express themselves and their feelings. "There are no melodramatic complications in this purposefully inarticulate film," wrote critic Donald Richie in Cinemaya. "What holds the attention and compels admiration is not only the lyric beauty of Masaki Tamura's photography but the honesty of [the] director."
Moe no Suzaku won the FIPRESCI Prize at this year's Rotterdam Film Festival. Richard James Havis
Prod co: WOWOW JapaSatellite Broadcasting, Bitters End Inc
Prod: Takenori Sento, Kobi Kobayashi
Dir/scr: Naomi Kawase
Ph: Masaki Tamura
Ed: Kakesu Shuichi
Art dir: Yoshido Etsuko
Cast: Jun Kanimura, Machiko Ono, Sachiko Izumi, Kotaro Shibata
Running time: 95 mins
Int sales: Seawell Films
