「なんで電話取らんかった? 」 “Why didn’t you pick up the phone?”
Traumatized by her father’s infidelity and her mother’s death, Mika (Ruka Matsuda – 松田るか) leaves the island alone. She has never been back to the home island since, butone day she is informed of her father’s critical condition and decides to go back to her home. The reunion with her father (Tadanobu Asano – 浅野忠信) on his sickbed brings back happy memories of her mother (Keiko Horiuchi – 堀内敬子), and will make her discover who her father really was.
Toshiyuki Teruya’s Kanasando (かなさんどー) is a heartwarming human comedy that makes you smile and cry, and illustrates the bonds that fade and reform. And that true happiness lies in the little things in life.
What do children really know about their parents?
In this film, the director and screenwriter focuses on the idea that children often don’t really know the details of their parents’ lives and, as a result, tend to judge them. And while this is particularly true in a society like Japan, where privacy is very important, it’s also true in the West. Just think of Eminem, who sang for years that his mother was a bad mother, only to sing several years later that, in fact, he now understood that she had done her best to protect him from his father, who was, in the end, the disgusting one in the story.
The mother (Keiko Horiuchi – 堀内敬子)
But back to the film… The plot mixes the funny and the touching to show a reality that is, in the end, quite simple and widespread. Behind the projected image, there’s a completely different reality. It’s hard to explain exactly how this concept is illustrated in Kanasando without giving too many clues that might ruin the viewer’s experience. But by alternating scenes from the present with memories of Mika’s past, the director quietly leads the viewer to understand that behind appearances, there are sometimes far more complex situations that are impossible for us as offspring to comprehend.
Ruka Matsuda and Tadanobu Asano give great performances in this father-daughter duo. It’s not easy to play this kind of love/hate relationship, especially when one of the two characters is, for most of the film, in a state of paralysis where only the eyes can convey emotion. As for Matsuda-san, she moves from hysteria to compassion, from sadness to joy and from anger to love in a fair, unadorned way.
Light at the service of the plot
To complement the simple but effective direction and acting, the film plays with light, moving from bright shots when mother and daughter are together, to dark shots when the father is in the presence of the daughter, to a more neutral image when the characters are not together.
Mika (Ruka Matsuda – 松田るか) and her mother
For example, in the first part of the movie, whenever Mika is in the presence of her father, we’re in a small, dark place, as if to give the impression of a prison, whereas when Mika is with her mother, we’re in a more open room, with a beautiful light that illuminates them in a way that makes them look beautiful. Simple perhaps, but effective.
A little more…
Through this family story, there are the other, equally important characters, who bring a more specific humor and drama, which might not be understood by people unfamiliar with Japanese culture. One example is the scene in which the father’s employees find themselves sharing a meal with Mika’s family. The group of employees tease Mika by using a series of forgiveness formulas to make her laugh and forgive her father. But to find this scene funny, you first have to understand that this kind of situation shouldn’t happen, and especially not the way it’s done here. As a result, the situation becomes comical.
The father (Tadanobu Asano – 浅野忠信)
Blending Okinawan landscapes with traditional island songs, Kanasando (かなさんどー) deals with the end of life, highlighting the love and vision of life and death of those who leave and those who stay.
Incidentally, Kanasando is a traditional Okinawan song in which a woman recounts her love for her man, in its purest form. The song, which is in Okinawan dialect – and subtitled in Japanese in the film – is sung by Mika in the film’s final scene, resulting in a beautiful, touching and moving scene.
Kanasando is presented at the TJFF on June 9, 2024.
