658km, Yôko no tabi

In Japanese culture term Hikikomori refers to individuals who, due to certain mental dynamics, withdraw from society and avoid social interactions. Yoko, a 42-year-old woman portrayed by Rinko Kikuchi in Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's film "Yoko," embodies this lifestyle. Her quiet life is abruptly interrupted when her cousin Shigeru (Pistol Takehara) arrives to deliver the news of her father's unexpected death and insists on taking her to the funeral in Aomori. However, complications arise at the first service area when Shigeru and his wife must leave to take their injured son Kaito to the hospital, leaving Yoko alone and nearly out of money. With no other option, she decides to hitchhike to Aomori.

The sudden loss of her father deeply impacts Yoko, shattering her isolated existence and prompting a haunting question: Why did you have to die? This unanswerable query transforms her journey to Aomori into a powerful exploration of memories and her complicated relationship with her father. As she travels to the funeral, will these reflections and inner dialogues help Yoko come to terms with her father's imperfections?

Being left behind by Shigeru and his family at a rest stop leaves Yoko feeling lost in the world around her, compelling her to depend on strangers for help. Her only means of reaching her destination is her voice, a signal of her presence and existence. In this moment, Yoko is pushed to express her true self and break free from the confines of her self-imposed isolation.

This film beautifully captures the essence of simplicity in its storytelling!

Yoko (Rinko Kikuchi) is a hikikomori doing online work and never leaving her apartment in Tokyo until one day her cousin turns up to tell her that her father from Aomori has died and the funeral is tomorrow, 658km to the north. Her mobile phone has broken so she wasn't answering calls. The cousin, his wife and their children offer to take her to Aomori. Along the way they stop at a service station. Yoko becomes separated from the cousin's family and ends up hitchhiking the rest of the way, and it's the distressing hike which is 90% of the film.

Along the way she meets the whole range of humanity, but the main progression is herself. From the hikikomori who barely speaks, to the important soliloquy about life near the end.

Like a lot of Japanese films, it's quite slow paced (though not boring). Kikuchi is excellent, although possibly too good looking for this grim role. Sawa Nimura was also good. Also Joe Odagiri as the ghostly father figure, and the bickering but loving old couple.

YOKO (2023).

A socially awkward middle-aged woman called Yoko (Rinko Kikushi) is taken by her cousin and his family from Tokyo to Aomori to attend her father's funeral. On the way she accidentally gets left behind on a rest stop... Again, a road movie serves as a journey for a troubled character to grow and ultimately reach the goal of self-improvement. Her trying to hitch-hike to her destination results in various meetings with all kind of people while also the dangers of her actions become a major story element.

That one has been criticized in how it might be read as a trigger event for her improvement. I'm actually no too sure how to feel about that myself but this didn't ruin the movie for me as it's so well directed and Rinko Kikuchi truly disappears in her role here, giving a stand-out performance as this troubled woman.

And then, YOKO is also - and obviously a movie about Japan. Shot entirely on location, we move up North, getting to know different regions and the people living there, or just ended up there.

YOKO is a deeply touching movie despite its controversial potential and I'm glad it did receive an English-friendly disc release, something so very rare these days in Japanese cinema.

Review written by artist jayakumar jrain.