Moving (1993) User Reviews

Unsung masterpiece by a director who died too young (spoilers)

[kerpan · 9/10 · 22 May 2003]

The title literally means "moving" as in "moving day" or "moving out" -- but, more metaphorically, refers to "moving on".

This is an extraordinary film about a 6th grade girl whose family is in the process of falling apart -- her parents are in the process of getting divorced. At first a bit oblivious, she begins acting out and concocting increasingly desperate stratagems to "encourage" them to re-unite. The film culminates with a forced (by the girl) family reunion at a fire festival at Lake Biwa, where our young heroine runs away from her parents to spend the day and night by herself -- first with an elderly local couple who temporarily "adopt" her, then at the age-old night-time rituals and finally alone (with the moon and nature) in the hills above the lake and then on its now-deserted shore.

Tomoko Tabata, the young girl who plays the film's heroine, turns in a remarkable performance. Her parents are presented credibly, as ordinary well-meaning but fallible people. The cinematography by Toyomichi Kurita (who has also worked with Oshima and Altman) is absolutely superb. The direction by Snji Somai is masterful. Alas, Somai died in 2001, in his early 50s, just as he was beginning to receive world-wide acclaim.

In many ways, this film strikes me as a live-action counterpart to the animated work of Studio Ghibli, with its blend of honestly portrayed everyday life (with almost a child's eye view) and fantasy (or seeming fantasy). The links are closest to Isao Takahata's 1991 masterpiece, "Only Yesterday" (and there seem to be a few quite overt homages). This film treasure is available on a virtually flawless DVD from Japan, accompanied by an interview with a now (just barely) grown-up Tomoko Tabata. Regrettably, there are no subtitles on the DVD -- and I have not yet found any online subtitle translations. An English subtitled version does (did) exist, as this was shown at various international festivals when it was new -- but it does not seem to have ever gained US distribution. Pray for a festival appearance near you and/or a subtitled DVD release -- or start learning Japanese.

Moving...

[politic1983 · 9/10 · 12 July 2017]

Timing can perhaps have a big impact on the international success of a career. As the 1990s progressed, Japanese cinema grew in popularity around the world once more, starting to win major awards as in the days of the old masters. The 1970s and 1980s, however, were a little slower - in terms of international acclaim anyway - for Japanese directors. And while there were some great films made during this period, it is perhaps something of a lost generation for Japanese cinema.

Most of the films of Shinji' Somai's twenty year career from 1980- 2000 were made during the 1980s, with the end of his career coming as many Japanese directors saw theirs take off. Domestic success, therefore, did not result in international, in perhaps a reverse of the approach to the new millennium where many Japanese were less aware of/excited by the films of Kitano Takeshi and Miike Takashi as some in the West.

My first exposure to Somai's work was 2000's "Kaza-hana", his last film, and while good, perhaps not a fair reflection of the body of his work. But with releases less easy to locate in the West, the Internet can be a place to try and unearth some of his treasures. "Ohikkoshi" ("Moving"), one of Somai's later films, shows a strong director using quite simple ideas to powerful effect.

Renko Urushiba is a girl about 12 years old whose parents are to separate. A seemingly normal family dinner between the three does not seem to reflect the discussion between her parents, Kenichi and Nazuna, that Kenichi will be moving out tomorrow. Aware of this fact, Renko carries on as normal, happy-go-lucky, not fully understanding what the situation really means.

Gradually, Renko's world becomes torn: between her mother - applying strict rules while trying to be her best friend - and her father - with a more laid-back indifference; and between friendship circles at school, with new-found empathy with some of the school's outcasts, betraying her family's supposed "normality." Despite her attempts at trying to patch the family back together, the more she tries, the more she feels that she is alone; the Urushiba's now three individuals rather than a family unit. This results in her running away when trying to recreate a family holiday from the past; instead taking a voyage of discovery on her own.

Now, this all sounds pretty usual coming-of-age stuff, as a child struggles to come to terms with elements of life they will have to get used to as they grow older, learning that fairy tales do not exist and life will not always be how you want it. But rather than choosing to focus too much on sentimentality, Somai puts the audience in the role of the child. The cause of the break-up is never fully explained throughout the film, keeping the audience in the child's perspective of ignorance of the adult actions that impact on their lives.

Increasingly, Renko comes to terms with the fact that she is on her own, neither of her parents willing to help her understand further. It's for this reason that she chooses to run away when the pair still show animosity towards each other when she slyly organises a family reunion for the fireworks festival at Biwako. Her running away allows both Kenichi and Nazuna to better understand their own failings in the family: Kenichi chooses against taking a customary swig from his hipflask; and Nazuna admitting that perhaps she may be just as much to blame for the relationship failing.

But it is now too late. Spending the night alone in the woods by the lake, Renko wonders alone until she comes to the shore, spying a boat from the festival covered in fireworks. In a dream-like sequence, she watches on as the family happily play together in the water during a summer of yesteryear. But soon, her parents turn their backs on her and walk away into the water before sinking below, leaving her asking "where are you going?" Receiving no answer, she is left alone. But it is the Renko of the past that disappears; the Renko of today watching on, shouting "Omedetou gozaimasu" at the festival boat in congratulations, her transformation complete.

The closing credits are accompanied by a vibrant, gleeful Renko dancing around a street scene, touching everyone she meets: gifting a flower to her mother; suppressing her father's wine glass as she massages his shoulders; claiming she is "moving to the future." The future is a clearly older Renko in a school uniform, a more assertive and serious expression painted on her face. Renko has matured, though whether this is for the better is left open.

This simple, but powerful style of filmmaking is clear to see influencing the likes of directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Miwa Nishikawa, Kiyoshi Kurosawa in "Tokyo Sonata" and other regulars on international film festival circuits. Somai missed out on this year- on-year international success of those that came after him. But, much like Renko's acceptance of her situation, his influence perhaps has a longer, more lasting impression, rather than an instant hit.

politic1983.blogspot.co.uk

Insightful and engaging

[PAJA-2 · 9/10 · 2 November 2012]

This film has for a long time been something of a holy grail. An obscure Japanese film hardly ever presented outside of its homeland, made by a director that died a decade ago, and the Japanese DVD (without subtitles) is out of print. But in October of 2012 it suddenly appeared on YouTube, in a complete format with acceptable-resolution video. And with English subtitles! Someone up there has listened to a prayer, it seems.

This insightful look at a family torn to pieces and the attempts by the daughter to fix things back to where they once were is no hack job or clichéd melodrama. In this story both parents and child change distance and direction, and the drama is never hopeless in its presentation. The father may be a slacker, but he has heart. The mother may be blind to her daughter's growing need for self-reliance, but she can learn her lesson if needed.

The kid in the centre of the story is a 12-year-old that ultimately says to her stunned mother that she wants to grow up as soon as possible. This seems to be her own way of coming to terms with her discovery of the possibly irreconcilable differences between her mother and father. She wants to become big, so she doesn't have to rely any more upon two people that cannot cooperate for the common good of the family the three of them are part of.

Someone compared "Ohikkoshi" with "Omohide poro-poro" (Only Yesterday). I could inject a resemblance or two with Takahata's feature film "Jarinko Chie" (1981), where Chie has to deal with things, in between her gambling father and her mother, the duo having separated from one another. Or with Jun'ichi Satō's "Junkers Come Here" (1995), a sweet film about another divorced family and a girl in between. All these films happen to be animated, a clear evidence that animation in Japan is broader in its scope and themes than in most countries.

A Moving art that appeals to both heart and mind

[samxxxul · 10/10 · 23 July 2020]

This poignant coming of age drama about the grief that marital unrest can cause a child is an early masterpiece by late Shinji Somai (Sailor Suit and Machine Gun) whose career was over almost before it began. 'Moving' is not free from sentiment and melodrama, but luckily doesn't put it too thickly. Instead, he underscores the human drama, backed by an excellent cast, with little Renko leading the way. Although this is one of Somei's unusual works, he shows all his virtuosity here with a number of beautifully filmed scenes and towards the end the film becomes more surreal. It's also a grand visual spectacle (Toyomichi Kurita's cinematography is dreamy and captures fully all the wonder of Eri Yamamoto's art direction); in this case, this is doubly important, given how symbolic this work is. In addition, it may be the only live-action film that seems to have both been inspired by the work of Ghibli Studios (particularly Isao Takahata's Only Yesterday, Chie the Brat and provided a source of inspiration in return (to Hayoa Miyazaki's Spirited Away). Based on the novel "Ohikkoshi", by Hiko Tanaka, the film revolves around Renko, a girl in the sixth grade (between 11 and 12 years old) whose parents' divorce shutters her happy but fragile life. The subject of divorce and its profound impact on the child, and the fluctuations realistically and spontaneously, up to her inner feelings, which is told through a child's eye perspective and translated in a charming visual language.

As well, there is a wealth of wonderful moments: among my favorites - Renko's rant with her mom, when Renko moonwalked and howled at the moon! Perhaps my favorite scene is near the end during the carnival in the beach. It is that it is charming without being cheap or smarmy. The unpretentious manner in which the story is told is such a joyful antidote to the average Hollywood film. This drama delights with it's simplicity, allowing the drama to come to us in an unhurried telling and I think 'Moving' is more successful as a mood piece than as narrative. There's a stream-of-consciousness quality here - appropriately so; that could very well be the intent. Moving by Somai Shinji (1993) is it the most beautiful Japanese film of its decade even though there is The Labyrinth of Dreams, Yumeji, April Story, Sonatine or even Eureka during this period.

It is truly exquisite, way up there with Stanislaw Rózewicz's Birth Certificate (1961), Dorota Kedzierzawska's Crows (1994), Patricio Kaulen's A Long Journey (1967), Kjell Grede's Hugo and Josephine (1967), Amir Naderi's The Runner (1984), Mariana Rondón's Bad Hair (2013), Yared Zeleke's Lamb (2015), Achero Mañas's El Bola (2000), Tony Gatlif's Mondo (1995), Nabil Ayouch's Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets (2000), Héctor Babenco's Pixote (1980), Viktoras Starosas I Love the Headmistress (1978), Xhanfise Keko's Tomka and His Friends (1977), Maciej Dejczer's 300 Miles to Heaven (1989), Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher (1999), Byambasuren Davaa's The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005), David Zellner's Kid-Thing (2012), Terence Davies's The Long Day Closes (1992), Samira Makhmalbaf's The Apple (1998), So Yong Kim's Treeless Mountain (2008), Céline Sciamma's Tomboy (2011), Andrés Wood's Machuca (2004), Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl (2001), Jacques Doillon's Ponette (1996), Akihiko Shiota Canary (2004), Manoel de Oliveira's Aniki-Bóbó (1942), Andrey Zvyagintsev's The Return (2003), Ken Loach's Kes (1969), Shane Meadows's This Is England (2006), Karel Kachyna's The High Wall (1964), Vittorio De Sica's The Children Are Watching Us (1944), Wojciech Marczewski's Weiser (2001), Jan Sverák's Kolya (1996), Petar Lalovic's Some Birds Can't Fly (1997), Pavel Chukhray The Thief (1997), Soo-il Jeon's With a Girl of Black Soil (2007), Louis Malle's Zazie dans le Metro (1960), Claude Jutra's Mon oncle Antoine (1971), François Truffaut's 400 Blows (1959), Lasse Hallström's My Life as a Dog (1985), Cary Joji Fukunaga's Beasts of No Nation (2015), ), Yoon Ga-eun's The World Of Us (2016), Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (1982), Lev Golub's Devochka ishchet otsa/Girl Seeks Father (1959), Yuan Zhang's Little Red Flowers (2006) Sean Baker's The Florida Project (2017), Edward Yang's Yi Yi (2000) and Carlos Saura's Cria Cuervos (1976).

A true timeless masterpiece that has never ceased to be emulated, It is one of the real hidden treasures of Japanese cinema compared to Ghibli. It is so little recognized that doesn't even have DECENT votes on IMDB. Mandatory for every lover of cinema, something which should be highly prized.

A brilliant film burning with bitter feelings (spoilers)

[sleepsev · 6 November 2001]

Moving is indeed one of the most moving films about children. It deals with a girl who seems unable to cope with her parents' separation. The movie is very successful in expressing the feelings of the girl, and it is not too sweet or sentimental. Though some scenes might lack originality, every scene is still extraordinary for me because of its overflowing streams of emotions.

Though every scene is excellent, there are two scenes which strike me much more strongly than others. One of them is the fire-in-laboratory scene. The feelings and emotions expressed in this scene is indescribably strong and remind me of my own childhood. Another scene which strikes me as severely is the scene when the mother tries to reach her self-confined daughter. The last 20 minutes of the film are superbly created. It truly reflects the mental state of the girl, and though I think this last part expresses something too obviously, I still love it because of its strange beauty and its tremendous power. And I think it really offers one of the best solutions to the problem.

While the movie mostly shows the traumatic experiences of the girl, it also offers a lot of sympathy for other characters. It's really hard to say whose fault it is in this delicate problem. The parents of the child seem to have done the best they can, and the child reacts in a much cleverer way than I would do if I were in her place. I really like her lovely-but-strongly-determined ways of protest. The girl who played this miserable child really deserves some performance awards. It is a very difficult task to play a girl who is both strong and fragile, and also in deep agony like this.

The editing is perfect and gives priority to emotional flows than narrative flows. The cinematography is dazzling, especially during the latter part of the film and in the last scene. I feel no surprise to find that the cinematographer is Toyomichi Kurita, who did a wonderful and unforgettable job in ‘The Moderns'.

Painful

[ReadingFilm · 8/10 · 24 November 2022]

This is like a hunter's trap ensnaring you with pain and suddenly you are stuck. One of the more brutal films I have seen. Unlike Somai's other works there are not any joyous peaks to balance the brutality, presenting a picture of maybe where those films came from. I was at first waiting for fun scenes, so it threw me off. I wouldn't say it is a downer. It is just far more truth than you will ever see in a film. The mom hates being a mom, doesn't like her daughter, is in an apathetic state. The best you can say is she offers her a sober unfiltered reality. The dad isn't any better. He's perplexed by her. They are not hateful or entirely unsympathetic. They are very low key and she is high key. She wants to be Somai's Tokyo Heaven or Sailor Suit protagonist. Instead she is given the disappointment of reality. She goes running off and wandering across nature. It becomes this Freudian dream machine. I think in those bits the film indulges too much, however with that said, it is functional and necessary. In film you go to nature as either a happy ending, or here, for hardship, enlightenment, renewal. It is presenting her rock bottom moment coming out the other end stronger, and mom is there waiting; not the 'what if' but the 'what is'. But the film accomplished something only the most vital works of cinema are able, it is impossible to watch this and your mind not go to a hundred places in your memories. It has countless scenes and vignettes that burn in the brain. Viewing Somai's body of work I can see this as one of his most crucial pieces, even though I do not have to be happy about that. I noticed from the start he is an artist who constantly tries to top himself and bring more for the audience than last time out.

coming to age under the sign of magic

[dromasca · 9/10 · 4 February 2024]

'Moving' (1993 - original title is 'Ohikkoshi') is one of those films whose viewing is more than a cinematic spectacle - it's an experience. It's the first film I've seen by the Japanese film director Shinji Sômai, who died prematurely in 2001, leaving behind a filmography of only 13 films, almost the same number as the French film director Jean-Pierre Melville, who also died around the same age. His films are little known outside of Japan. In the 1980s and 1990s when they were made, Japanese films were rarely distributed in the world except for Akiro Kurosawa's and cartoons. His films, however, influenced the wave of very talented directors who today are sometimes better known and more successful in the world than in Japan. 'Moving' is a beautiful, sensible and slightly enigmatic film. I'm not sure that I understood all of its symbols and I would be happy to discuss it sometime with someone from Japan or well versed in Japanese culture and traditions.

The story features a family with only one child that is on the verge of separation. If you want, a kind of 'Kramer vs. Kramer' in the Japanese version, only here the child is Renko, an 11-12-year-old girl. The scene that opens the film is the last dinner the family spends together. The tensions between the parents are visible and the little girl is trying to brave it and maybe she has not yet understood all the implications of her parents' separation. The next day the father packs his things and moves, quite far away, but probably in the same city (Kyoto?). The mother works, in the evenings when she comes home she tries to rebuild the mother-daughter relationship based on a discipline embodied in a set of rules and a life schedule displayed in the house. The little girl misses her father and the family atmosphere. She also has problems at school, where the children notice the situation and make fun of her and another colleague who is in the same situation. Divorce is allowed in Japan, but it is socially frowned upon. As she becomes aware of the situation, sadness turns to rebellion, and the means of expression are typical of adolescence: naive or wonderful attempts to bring parents together, or acts of rebellion that can become destructive. Coming to age occurs in parallel with the desire to recover the lost security and stability.

Although the setting of the story is that of a large city in modern Japan with its houses and schools, there is an element of tradition and even magic that accompanies the story and which at one point becomes dominant. Fire marks several key moments - whether it's a way to express the outburst of teenage rebellion, or it's the centerpiece of a traditional celebration that ends with a spectacular burning of dragon-decorated ships on a lake. Towards the end of the film, Renko will go through a horror-tinged initiation and transformation experience that may be real, may be dreamlike, is certainly magical. Not everything is explained - neither the wandering in the bamboo jungle, nor the meeting with an old man who gives her some life advice that guides her to the initiation ceremony. Some of the meanings might be clearer to those connoisseurs of Japanese lore, but even for the uninitiated viewer the ending has exceptional visual and emotional power. Viewers in a hurry to leave the cinema hall and those who press the 'off' button at the beginning of the credits will miss a series of sequences that project Renko into the future, sequences accompanied by Gheorghe Zamfir's flute music. It was a surprise for me, which proves that Shinji Sômai was a director who, in addition to the talents to create an emotional story, to choose perfect actors, to permanently keep the balance between the real and the imaginary, was also open to dialogues with other cultures. I can only regret that he only got to direct a few films, but I have 12 more to discover.