Given my interest in Japan after the war and my like of Kazuo Ishiguro, it's no surprise I enjoyed this film. It smoothes swiftly along, and to the extent I remember the book, seems to follow it closely. I do have two criticisms. First, the Tokyo it presents seems far too spiffy and attractive for the early postwar period. I realize we're looking at a higher end of society. Still, everything from the streets to the restaurants seem more like the Tokyo of the mid-1960s. Extreme hardship is rarely seen. Second, and more importantly, following the book as it does, is the issue of unreliable narrator. I realize from a real-world view, our recollections may greatly differ from reality, something which writers may want to capture. But for me as a consumer, my feeling is "you're the creator, so you know what happened....why the ambiguity?" But I have the attention span of a child; I get lost in a story. I often have to ask my companion or find out from the Internet what happened. Others may like Ishiguro's approach, but to me it leads to unexplainable surprises in the plot that dampens the enjoyment of this otherwise fine film.
Review of An Artist of the Floating World
