Japanese films set in the countryside sometimes portray folks out in the boonies as more pure-hearted, if less sophisticated, than city slickers. However, provincial communities are more commonly depicted as miniature dystopias where the narrow-minded reign and young people with any ambition feel compelled to leave. Only the failures among them return.
Such is the case with the title hamlet in Michihito Fujii’s latest film, “The Village.” Based on Fujii’s original script, the story unfolds in the fictional Kamon-mura, a mountain enclave once known for its noh theater productions during the annual summer festival, but now dominated by a big recycling plant that supplies a massive landfill. The concrete plant building looms ominously over the village like the castle of a medieval robber baron.
It also symbolizes the film’s simplistic good-versus-evil melodrama, replete with bad guys who might as well be twirling mustaches as they cackle. Those expecting the pointed political commentary of “The Journalist,” Fujii’s 2019 true-story drama that won armloads of awards, will leave disappointed.
In “The Village” he paints sloppily with a broad brush, creating head-scratching plot turns and character reveals, which lead to a violent climax that feels hackneyed and contrived.
His protagonist is Yu Katayama (Ryusei Yokohama), a laborer at the recycling plant who lives with his pachinko-addicted, loan-shark-indebted mother (Naomi Nishida). A quiet type with a permanent hangdog expression, Yu is bullied at work, but can’t bring himself to fight back. He is also paying off his mom’s debts to a hulking gangster (Tetta Sugimoto) and feels he can’t skip town and leave her to her fate.
Misaki Nakai (Haru Kuroki), a recent returnee from Tokyo, takes an interest in Yu, though he resents her persistence in trying to renew their acquaintance. As we see in flashbacks, they knew each other as kids, when they were junior stars of the village noh performances. Taking a job at the local city hall in the PR section, Misaki hatches a plan to promote the recycling plant as a tourist attraction, with Yu serving as guide.
Toru Ohashi (Wataru Ichinose), Yu’s thuggish co-worker and son to the corrupt village headsman (Arata Furuta), objects to making a pathetic loser like Yu the face of Kamon-mura to the outside world, and it’s not only because he can barely open his mouth. As the entire village knows, Yu is the son of a now-absent criminal who caused a local scandal years ago.
A determined type, Misaki both pushes through with her plan and takes Yu to her bed. His confidence restored, Yu proves to be a terrific guide: articulate, personable and, once cleaned up, eminently presentable. Tourists throng and a TV crew comes calling: Yu and Kamon are about to become famous. Meanwhile, a furious Toru plots Yu’s downfall and Misaki’s seduction.
Playing Yu, Yokohama reveals the character’s inner pain, but can’t account for his miraculous transformation, which resembles Clark Kent becoming Superman — without the alien backstory. Also, the always superb Kuroki adds layers to Misaki that aren’t in the script, but a third-act reveal about her past comes completely out of left field.
Oddest of all, however, is the film’s conceit that, more than the village’s noh plays with all their color and mystery, visitors would flock to a sinister-looking plant overlooking a trash-strewn landfill. Have its not-as-clean-as-advertised fumes gone to their heads?
| Rating | |
|---|---|
| Run Time | 120 mins. |
| Language | Japanese |
| Opens | April 21 |
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