Sabu‘s 16th fiction feature film “My Blood & Bones in a Flowing Galaxy” which screens in the ‘Current Waves' program of PÖFF (Tallinn Black Nights) is based on the best-selling novel by Yuyuko Takemiya, the author of light literature on which the anime Toradora! and Golden Time are based. If I could summarize its plot in just one sentence, I would by no means use a single word from any of synopses I have read about it so far besides the names of the film's protagonists.
Let's start by calling it a joyride in the genre-themed amusement park. It all begins as a teenage saga, with a 17-year-old dreaming to became a hero like his dad, who lost his life few hours before his son was born. Hero is here not an exaggeration or a product of the boy's fantasy about the parent he had never met; during a heavy flood, the father jumped into the river to save people trapped in a van that got swept away from the road. His body was found weeks later washed out on the shore, almost unrecognizable.
The film is chapterized, but it takes time to make sense of it if not acquainted with the original, so when the title of the first chapter (“That is me shattered”) pops in the big writing on the screen, what follows is a bit of surprise. Not a bad one for that matter, just a dash confusing to get into the story.
In a joint lecture for junior and senior highschoolers held in the gym, Kiyozumi Hamada (Taishi Nakagawa) observes a sickening act of bullying of an insecure, scared girl, so he intervenes. Despite of his sincerely good intentions, her reaction is the opposite of expected.
Bullying is one of the most disturbing forms of violence inflicted upon people ‘out of the box' and most certainly a very sickening product of modern society. Looking at the film and the complete absence of mobile phones or social networks, but also at cars driven around, it is obvious that we are dealing with a narrative set up in the fore-last decade of the 20th century. The fashion is stubbornly timeless, dictated by the mandatory school dress code that calls for uniforms. Outside of school, grown-ups are wearing neutral garments, also timeless in their practicality.
The film is clear about one scary thing. Sometimes, bullying is almost a reward compared to the situation at home. From this awkward perspective of the Covid-19 related changes in our lives, we might better understand why the bullied girl Hari Kuramoto (Anna Ishii) rather keeps quiet about what she's going through at school than making a fuss about it. Having said that, few things regarding her looks and behaviour become crystal clear.
Sabu is good at blending different genres into one coherent audio-visual story, and “My Blood & Bones in a Flowing Galaxy” isn't any different. Once you are led to believe what the narrative is about, there is a heavy blow in your face making you rethink it. Where am I, and what am I watching, might be initial questions you would want to deal with.
Additionally to happenings leading to the ‘picturebook of one and true love', we are violently pushed into the pits of family hell. Hari is someone whose voice was stolen a long time ago, and as a terrified witness of gruesome atrocities, her only impulse is to submit and beg the others to get away. She knows what's coming.
What is timeless love, is the question Sabu wants you to think about. Is it realistic or your ultimate doom? Is it better to give up on it for the benefit of all, or should you bite, scratch and hit to preserve it? Or maybe, you should go target the psycho and whistle your happy tune.
“My Blood & Bones in a Flowing Galaxy” goes many uncanny places, and when it explodes to a pure horror, it just carries you to the very river the first victim lost his life.
