Brimming with whacky invention and seemingly inspired by the stranger manga, Katsuhito Ishii's "Samahada Otoko to Momojiri Onna (Sharkshin Man and Peachhip Girl)" (1999) and "Party 7" (2000) were hits at home and also found admirers abroad, including Quentin Tarantino. Now, after a four-year break, Ishii is back with "Cha no Aji (A Taste of Tea)," which was the opening film in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
My first thought on hearing about this film a leisurely paced family drama shot in an idyllic corner of Tochigi Prefecture was that Ishii had gone from the Tarantino-esque to the Ozu-esque. But it's not quite that. Ishii is still Ishii less a Tarantino or Ozu disciple than a talent with his own comically bent take on reality (or rather surreality).
Nonetheless, "Cha no Aji" marks a departure. In place of the alternate universes of his previous films, Ishii's latest unfolds in a world much like our own, though located in a rural cultural bubble from which cell phones and convenience stores have been excluded. Also, though his family Mom (Satomi Tezuka), Dad (Tomokazu Miura), Gramps (Tetsuya Gashuin), 6-year-old Sachiko (Maya Banno) and 16-year-old Hajime (Takahiro Sato) may have an average-enough makeup, its members are distinctively, if loveably, quirky.
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