The "Always" films, unabashedly sentimental, meticulously realized reminiscences on the Tokyo of the Showa 30s (1955-1965), are intended for the domestic audience only. But the first two received high audience poll numbers when they screened at the Udine Far East Film Festival in Italy, which I help program. And it wasn't just because the director, the personable Takashi Yamazaki, was there to take his bows.
Despite the cartoonish performances and the insider references to pop-culture phenomena that are obscure to foreigners, the Italian audience laughed, cried and loudly applauded. When I tell this to local industry types, they are understandably skeptical. By conventional box-office logic, these films should be about as exportable as natto (fermented soy beans).
But in telling the stories of folks living in the shadow of Tokyo Tower, when it was still a shining symbol of postwar resurgence and hope, Yamazaki hits big emotional notes with a Dickensian directness and confidence (if not artistry). Also, like the first half of "David Copperfield," the "Always" films take what is essentially a child's point of view. Their world is more highly colored than the gray, gritty reality of the time, while the adults loom larger than life, assuming the forms of angels or, occasionally, demons. In this primal setting, the usual cultural barriers dissolve.