Most of the nearly 500 Japanese movies released every year are low-budget independent films that screen in art houses, locally called mini-shiatā (mini-theaters). Before the pandemic, most mini-theater owners were fighting to survive financially, and their struggles only intensified after COVID-19 hit and theaters nationwide shut down for a month starting in April 2020.
Crowdfunding campaigns and other initiatives helped them stay in business, but recovery to the pre-pandemic status quo has been slow, especially outside the Tokyo metro area.
One Japan-based independent filmmaker, Malaysian-born Kah Wai Lim, has now made a film about this fraught state of affairs with Hirobumi Watanabe, a fellow indie director, as his star. “Your Lovely Smile” is part documentary and part comedy, with Watanabe’s gifts as a natural comedian accounting for most of the laughs. The film is currently playing at Image Forum in Tokyo and will soon roll out to other theaters across Japan.