Japan is one of my favorite film countries.

Maestros like Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story – 1953), Keiji Mizoguchi (The Story of the last Chrysanthemums – 1939) and Mikio Naruse (Floating Clouds – 1955) dominated Japanese filmmaking from the 1930’s onward. From the Forties onward they were joined by Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon – 1950 and Ikuru – 1952) and from the Sixties onward by directors like Kaneto Shindo (The Naked Island – 1960), Masako Kobayashi (The Human Condition – 1959), Shohei Imamura (The Ballad of Narayama – 1983) and Hiroshi Teshigahara (Woman in the Dunes – 1964). Together they have left us a great number of films of the utmost quality that deserves to be watched multiple times. Each one of them has made many more highly-ranked films, but the ones I particularly mentioned here are among the most cherished treasures in my collection.

In the 21st century the mantle of these masters of cinema has been taken over by directors like Hirokazu Koreeda (After Life – 1998, Still Walking – 2008, Shoplifters – 2018), Naomi Kawase (The Mourning Forest – 2007, Still the Water – 2014) and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Happy Hour – 2015, Drive My Car – 2021). The writing of this little summary of top films, covering just short of a whole century, gives me strong feelings, because I have so deeply cherished memories of each one of these films. They have their greatness in the exploration of humanness done in a refined, delicate style.

Here on the Nexus film site I have written before about films of Koreeda and of Kawase, but not yet about Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. The highlight of last week’s watching for me was his 2018 film Asako I & II. Hamaguchi got his breakthrough in filmmaking at the Locarno Film Festival in 2015 with the film Happy Hour. In 2021 two of his films Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Drive My Car were received with superlatives and awarded in respectively Berlin and Cannes. In between the breakthrough film from 2015 and these two mentioned we find Asako I & II, a delicate, contemplative film about the fantasies and realities in relationships.

Asako is a girl living in Osaka who one day runs into a free-floating guy Baku and madly falls in love with him. After a while Baku drifts on, and leaves her behind. Two years later, in Tokyo, Asako runs into a fellow who is very much a look-a-like of Baku. But this guy Ryohei is a young businessman who takes life and his relationship with Asako very seriously. They carefully start to build up a happy life together. But then Baku shows up again … Within the realm of this simple story, the intricacies of emotions, attraction, passion and happiness in relationships are explored in this beautiful, restrained film. Warmly recommended!

Rinus, Sept 2021