Sweet Bean

"Sweet Bean" is a film that revolves around Dorayaki--small pancakes that are glued together (usually) with sweet red bean paste. For anyone who hasn't had these sweet beans, they are amazingly delicious and any Japanese dish with sweet beans is a real treat. So, as I watched the film, it made me really, really hungry!

When the film begins, the manager of s tiny Dorayaki shop is approached by an elderly woman who wants a part-time job. He refuses, as she appears to be at least in her mid-70s. However, she is persistent and presents him with some of her sweet beans. After eating them, he realizes her filling is much better than his and he immediately hires her. She teaches him her method and together they are very successful. However, while you'd think this would result in a happily ever after sort of ending, it is NOT so sweet....but actually rather depressing and bitter-sweet. I am NOT being critical about the film...just warning you as folks who are already depressed might be better off watching another film. The themes involving Japanese prejudices against the disabled are interersting...but naturally not particularly fun to watch! Overall, the film has lovely acting and pacing...but also might not provide the sort of payoff you might be looking for in a movie.

Sentauro (Masatoshi Nagase) runs a food stand in Japan. Tokue (Kirin Kiki) wants to show him how to make a really good sweet bean paste to put in the doriyaki. there's very detailed info on both the pancakes and the sweet paste at wikipedia dot org. Tokue stops and smiles a lot... she seems to have an almost child-like appreciation of beauty and wondrous things. and how things relate to each other... even the ingredients of the food she's preparing. some similarities to "Tampopo", from 1985. during the Turner Classic introduction, we learn that the little girl "Wakana" ( Kyara Uchida) is actually played by the real grand-daughter of Kirin Kiki (Tokue). the two of them learn all kinds of things from each other. directed by Naomi Kawase. Story by Durian Sukegawa. it's very good! and it won TONS of film festival awards. Very sweet story. like her bean paste. Turner Classics rarely shows a movie that was made so recently, so it must have something!

"Sweet Bean" is a small, reflective movie that depicts the relationship between a guy working at a dorayaki shop, a sweet filled with 'an' (the reason for its original title), an old lady that appears out of nowhere and tries to convince him to employ her at his shop, and a young high school student who has her own problems with her family. Little by little, they become close to each other, a bond is created and they get a glimpse into their respective pasts.

Naomi Kawase normally does slow-burning movies, with a relaxed atmosphere, long takes and centering on the actors and their exchanges. "Sweet Bean" is not an exception and the actors answer with great performances all around (even sometimes histrionic Kirin Kiki, here very tone down and contemplative). The plot may seem simple, but it has different layers, which will grip the viewer, making them not only enjoy, but also think.

There are a couple of shaky points, though. First, the pace suffers in some moments, being a little bit brusque, some plot developments a little bit out of the blue. The second is that the last act is a little bit overlong and/or in-your-face.

"Sweet Bean" will be enjoyed by everyone. And make you hungry.

Yes, as others write, it's quite sentimental, and slightly didactic, but it isn't so in a corny way. The pain and moral dilemmas it portrays are very relatable and at times almost too much too bear. Maybe it's just that I find depictions of kind and lonely old folks very touching. Speaking of, Kirin Kiki's performance is brilliant. She's the real deal. She was so convincing that I actually checked if she was someone who had suffered from leprosy. This is a film in the tradition of Kurosawa's 'Ikiru'. There is even a sort of key moment in the film where Tokue uses the phrase 'ikiru' (to live).

Although I've traveled through Japan for three weeks last year, I had never heard of dorayaki, let alone eaten it. This omission has been put to an end by the film 'An'. As a nice and original gimmick, every viewer in the cinema I went to, received a dorayaki with his ticket, nicely wrapped in cellophane. The fun thing is: nobody knew exactly what is was, until the film was well underway.

A dorayaki is a sort of double mini-pancake, filled with bean paste. The Japanese word for the bean paste is an, hence the title of the film.

'An' is a small, heartfelt, feel-good movie. It starts and ends with beautiful images of cherry-blossom, the epitome of all things Japanese. The story takes place in the twelve month period between the blossom seasons. Sentaro, a quiet man in his thirties, sells dorayaki in a fast food stand. One day, a woman in her seventies brings him a plastic box filled with home-made an, because she doesn't like the industrial an Sentaro uses for his dorayaki. At her request, Sentaro hesitantly hires her as an expert an-maker, and from then on, business is booming.

This sounds like 'An' is a movie about food. It is, but it's about much more. The story is also about illness, death, discrimination, youth and capitalism. But above all, it's about enjoying life and looking at the bright side of things. There are parallels with the wonderful Indian film 'Lunch Box', but 'An' is less energetic and much more philosophical. It tends to be a bit slow, and towards the end the story drags on a bit. But these are minor flaws. Overall, 'An' is a nice film that makes you leave the cinema with the feeling that mankind isn't so bad after all.