Tetsuki Ijichi has been in the industry since the 80s, as a producer, actor, and distributor through his label Rain Trail Pictures. It is only now, however, that he debuts as a filmmaker, with a genre short that uses a ghost story as its base.
“Laundromat on the Corner” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
The film starts as the titular laundromat opens for the day, and a number of customers (including Ijichi) come in to do their laundry, under oriental background sounds and a rather eerie presence in the form of a woman in a white dress standing by, inside the establishment. The next frame changes the narrative completely as the protagonist of the movie is revealed to be Josh, a man in his mid-30s, whose life is in shambles: he owes his rent, he is divorced and he owes alimony to his ex-wife and has been unemployed for some time. However, he has just gotten a job as a caretaker for a bedridden older woman, Mary, hired by her daughter, Beth. Mary proves a handful, both in her behaviour and due to her stomach problems, that cause her to vomit frequently, occasionally on Josh. Just when he has become totally frustrated with his life, Josh meets the aforementioned girl in the white dress in the laundromat, Ming. The two even end up going on a date in a nearby Chinese restaurant, but the reaction of the Old chef there is rather alarming. Soon, it is revealed that something very strange and dangerous is going on.
Tetsuki Ijichi directs an intriguing short, which moves beyond its relatively common story through a number of very interesting connections. The way life, death and the afterlife are connected is the most evident one, with the triptych being presented excellently through Josh, Mary and Ming, with Ijichi highlighting the fact that difficulties can be met in all three of these states. In that fashion, Josh is struggling with his life, Mary with her death (or near-death life if you prefer) and Ming with afterlife. The second connection is between the oriental and the occidental, with Ijichi highlighting how multicultural US society is, through his many protagonists who belong to both “tribes”. Furthermore, the solution that the story suggests, of all these seemingly antithetical capacities joining together through love, gives a rather optimistic essence to the short, despite its mostly dramatic premises.
Technically, the film is also quite good, with Damyon Myers's cinematography, Adam Vidiksis's music and Nate Attias and Adam Danoff's sound communicating the sense of eeriness and mystery that permeates the narrative in excellent fashion. Derrick Berry's set design also helps the most in that regard, with both the laundromat and the restaurant setting intensifying the aforementioned sense.
Ijichi demands much of his actors in the 17 minutes the short lasts, but they deliver, at least for the most part. Eric Slodysko as Josh is somewhat flat, but not to the point of faulting the narrative significantly, while he communicates his overall frustration quite well. Joanne Joella as Mary is the main source of eeriness and mystery in the movie, and succeeds fully, both through her speech and her overall presence.
“Laundromat on the Corner” is a bit cliched in terms of script, but the narrative and the overall presentation are quite good, resulting in an entertaining short that will definitely satisfy genre fans.
