Two films about women reaching very different moments of change in their lives...
Omocha (1999) aka The Geisha House
A set of interlocking stories set in and around a traditional geisha house in 1950s Kyoto. A madam, an elderly house-keeper, three working geisha and a younger apprentice live in a traditional world quite apart from a turbulent modernising world outside. Anti-prostitution legislation has been passed threatening their livelihood, cheap call-girls are undercutting their business, younger men don’t understand the appeal of the geisha as their fathers have. What’s more the rich patron of Madam Satoe wants to withdraw his multi-million yen support - leaving the house with no funding, funding needed to pay the bills for kimonos, funding needed if young Tokiko is to become a maiko, the last step before becoming a geisha.
This plays out as an early Merchant Ivory production of a minor Jane Austen novel that just happens to revolve around the world of 1950s geisha, featuring some of the cast from a live-action Totally Spies! Beautiful, historically accurate kimonos, screens, make-up and tales of old values in a more modern time, with some of the most high-pitched enthusiastic laughter your ears can experience. If that sounds horrific, it’s not. It’s engaging with its own pace and charm. Right up until the final 15 minutes that is, but more of that later on.
There is a hint of Pride and Prejudice about the set up. A house without an income, four young women in search of a man with a sizable fortune. More than one man each preferably. Each of the geisha has their own personality. One is headstrong but shrewd, it would be a foolish man to cross her... One is quieter yet attractive and not averse to stealing the men from the others. One is ditzy, but don’t let that fool you. If you’re a man with money - she’ll remove it from you in short order. Tokiko, the young, soon-to-be maiko is quiet, diligent and trying to support her poor family who don’t wholly approve of the her career choice.
The acting is mixed. Sumiko Fugi is good as Madam Satoe is fine as the quiet, strong matriarch who knows the sacrifices that a geisha must make, the mask she must wear, and who despite her age has to make them again. Maki Miyamoto as Tokiko is the heart of the film, and she does well without much dialogue to work with. I’m less sure of the three geisha who have the lion’s share of the lines. Their roles seem caricaturish, but they bring the energy and drive to the various plot lines pushing them forward in a flurry of kimono-silk and a cacophony of girlish giggling. The men, well, they’re mostly generic bumbling fools.
The direction is passable, although there are a couple of ham-fisted emotional scenes when Tokiko has to confront her decision to become a geisha - when she goes to say goodbye to her handsome son-of-a-sawmill owner romantic interest, she just misses him as he goes out to deliver timber. It’s all a bit clumsy. Otherwise the stories go in interesting directions, and take you into the heart of the geisha’s lives, showing that behind the fragile, delicate dignity are strong, feisty, independent young women. Not the norm for Japan.
BUT - then comes the final 15 minutes when you can forget about anything good in this film, because it all goes horribly wrong. Director Fukasaka smears the lens with an entire tub of Vaseline, brings in some stirring scoring with many, many inappropriately triumphant and romantic crescendos and uses blatantly obvious imagery in lieu of acting for what should be both strong scenes for Tokiko (now named Omocha - after a type of toy...) and a distressingly painful one. It’s a complicated scene to act and to direct, with range of conflicting emotions that have to be expressed in an environment that does not allow freedom of expression. It’s an utter failure and sadly disappointing.
I’m sure there are subtleties I’m missing. My cultural awareness has many blind-spots. What’s going on may be deeply ironic and critical. But to me, this looks straight; a paean to traditional values made for an older, male audience. It ruins what went before, rendering all the other characters and plots insignificant. This is what it’s all been leading up to, and it jars. Less care has been taken with the period setting for this part. 1990s cars can be seen on the roads, it’s as if the film has shot forward 40 years. It feels like this finale has been made by someone else and tacked on.
An altogether uncomfortable experience for all the wrong reasons
Omohide poro poro (1991) aka Only Yesterday
Taeko, a 27 year-old Tokyo office lady, decides to go out to the country to pick safflower for her annual holiday. Throughout the holiday she’s drawn back to memories of her 10 year-old self as she reflects on where she is now and whether it’s where she wants to be.
Those moments from Taeko’s childhood that are what remain with you after the film, both the happy and the sad. There’s one particular scene that stuck with me. Taeko is sitting on the floor of her room with a 1960s black & white TV playing a puppet show which continues in its manic, upbeat, surreal way. Suddenly far too innocent for the sad and lonely girl who’s had her dreams whisked away by parents who she both loves and yet doesn’t understand. You see the room reflected in the small, old, highly curved screen as she sits in silence. Dreams being shattered quietly while the rest of the world carries on oblivious. A wonderful moment of both mood and recollection of a time gone by.
There are many such moments to enjoy. They're gift-wrapped ready to reveal themselves to us every time we take a journey back into Taeko’s past. You don’t know if you’re getting happy or sad, fun or serious.
Her family are ordinary but perfectly written. Her taciturn father who has absolute authority, his few words carry an infinite weight; her worrying mother who nevertheless doesn’t recognize her daughter’s feelings and experiences; her impatient sisters in their own, older worlds who think their youngest sister is backwards. From such normality springs emotional inertia trapping Taeko where she is, unknowing and unaware. It’s that unawareness of her own 27 year-old feelings and desires that’s probably the best thing about this entire film. It’s a tricky issue to portray - how to make it apparent both that she has such deep unfulfilled desire while at the same time that she’s contentedly finding her passage through life without noticing? It’s achieved simply and clearly. Brilliant writing.
If there are any criticism, it’s that it can drag. I think this may be a drawback of animated films in general - if things progress too slowly you’re sat there willing them to draw faster! I started noticing points where the production team seemed to be trying to save on animation costs by reusing backdrops or not animating movement with as many intermediate cells as they could. Sometimes the nostalgic mood could evaporate as the film threatened to grind to a halt. It was always brought back again. I’m uncertain as to what the editing process is with a film such as this - but in a film with so many silent moments of stillness, it must be a challenge to animate it in a way to hold the mood which would be considerably easier with cinematography.
Of my current top ten films I’ve seen this year, five concern childhood or incidents occurring in childhood. It’s not surprising then that I love this wonderful adult animation about letting go of childhood and moving on in life
No question as to which film’s progressing: Only Yesterday continues