The Light Shines Only There

A change of pace from her earlier films, Mipo Oh's murky and perverse film was put up as a Japanese Oscar entry, so someone must have taken it seriously.

Ayano is working through his personal fortune in his twenties (open cut mining back story) when he lends his briquette to loud pinchuko player youth Suda, who invites him back to a home that's as grubby as Ayano's own. He shares it with his infirm sex addict dad, exhausted mother and earthy sister Ikewaki, who we know is going to be important because they play single piano notes under her shot.

A few attention getting moments. The embrace in the sea is one but the frequent shadowed make-out material is too indistinct to have voyeur interest.

The cast are strong and the Hokaido background is unfamiliar but the story and brown out imagery are both tacky.

There are many things that I hated in the story line, which is the reason I gave it low ratings. However, the cinematography was great. The actors, director and d.o.p did a great job

This is a really elegantly made film all around. Of course, it's grim but the colors and the cinematography do a good job of highlighting just the right type of tone needed for the narrative and these characters' journeys. And emotional journeys they do take. The actors are really fantastic though, and really do make it a powerful sort of journey, much more effective than I would've thought as how the film started. I do think it's such an uncomfortable viewing experience though, not an easy one and while I can usually handle that, I don't think this is a great film though. Effective, but certain writing issues keep it from getting on another level. Still, recommended.

There are a few convenient encounters in Mipo O's The Light Shines Only There, but moored to a stark realism, an unconventional narrative approach and characterisation that is far from typical, it just has a way of making those narrative twists even more unsettling. Set in Hakodate in the remote north island of Hokkaido, Tatsuo has turned to heavy drinking and gambling as a means of blocking out a terrible event in his previous employment as a quarry miner. An encounter with the sister of Takuji, a guy he meets in a pachinko parlour, could however save Tatsuo from oblivion. Chinatsu's family affairs, her job at a squid factory, her love life and her ways of earning some extra money are hardly ideal, but such is In Tatsuo's position that you suspect he would willingly sacrifice illusions for some semblance of normality. Some people's realities however might be too hard for anyone to live with. If there are some characteristics that remind one of a Kinji Fukasaku wild youth movie, with even a slight gangster spin towards the conclusion, Mipo O's film applies real people to dramatic situations and shows the often brutal nature of life in the remotest regions of Japan.

Great acting all round, especially Masaki Suda in a challenging role that could be grating or sentimental if dialed too high or too low. The story, however, does not stretch to cover contemporary social concerns, and the characters seem to mope around in a melodrama detached from present-day Japan. Whatever Kore-eda manages to capture in Shoplifters seems to evade Mipo O here. The writing, also, relies on too many contrived set ups. Tatsuo is wallowing in self-pity after causing an accident at work, and avoiding everyone - but we are supposed to believe he obsequiously goes home to have dinner with the family of a mentally diminished man he bumped into at pachinko? Chinatsu is street smart and world weary, but she falls instantly in love with the stranger who follows her brother into her living room? The same lazy contrivance sees Tatsuo wander into the very bar where Chinatsu is turning tricks. (And he always manages to leave without paying...). There is something in this story, but it is under the surface, and ultimately under-realized. Lots of good elements, but it doesn't quite gel.