In “Any Crybabies Around?,” the first theatrical feature by acclaimed short film director Takuma Sato, the real “baby” is the protagonist, a native of the Oga Peninsula in Akita Prefecture, who is an adult in age but still a foolish, irresponsible kid at heart.
He is also a participant in the Oga tradition of Namahage, in which local men dress themselves as folklore ogres and, on New Year’s Eve, go from house to house scaring tots with the approval of their smiling parents. The idea, a pompous Namahage leader tells a TV reporter, is to instill ethics in impressionable youngsters. “They learn that fathers protect children,” he says.
Just then our hero, Tasuku (Taiga Nakano), wanders in front of the TV crew’s camera — wearing only a mask. Ignoring warnings from his wife, Kotone (Riho Yoshioka), who is exhausted from caring for their infant daughter, Tasuku stayed out late with his pals and got thoroughly drunk. Now he is a national laughingstock, soon to become a town pariah.