The style of Akira Ikeda, with the oddball characters, the deadpan humor, and the somewhat surrealistic premises, has had a rather significant impact on European film festivals over the last decade, to the point that it also has impacted Japanese filmmakers, as it becomes obvious in Omoi Sasaki‘s feature debut. While Ikeda, however, tends to be a bit abstract in his comments, maybe with the exception of his latest, “The Blue Danube”, Sasaki presents a more down to earth satire filled with metaphors about the sociopolitical situation in Japan, and a number of other countries in the world where the Right seems to be taking over.
A living god – known simply as “God” – heads an insular nation where a beautiful, brilliant city exists, at least in the way its citizens and leadership perceive it. Due to a declining birthrate, the city issues an ordinance that all unmarried people over the age of forty-four will lose their citizenship and be kicked out of the country. Yoshiko, a single woman soon to be forty-five, runs a nursing home at an abandoned motel. With the ordinance coming into effect, she worries that she will either be forcibly removed from the city or conscripted into the war effort, something that will also prove that the insistence of a number of people that form her circle to finally get married, was correct. One day, an unidentified middle-aged man, who was previously seen riding his bike in the city, is brought into the house by the feisty elderly lady that lives there. Immediately, Yoshiko sees him as the hope she has been looking for and attempts to marry the man known only as Suzuki. Meanwhile, the government is actually looking for God, who has not been seen for 20 years.
Despite the light comedy premises that initially seem to dominate the narrative, Sasaki’s film is actually rather deep in its comments, which criticize a number of institutions and tendencies in subtle, but also pointed ways. The concept of the Emperor of Japan, who is actually very rarely seen by the public, is the first one the viewer will notice, through the mocking picture of a man with make-up that seems to be on every wall. At the same time, that he is considered God, also seems like a mockery towards the whole concept of religion, particularly in the way the people in the film seem to obey and respect rules deriving from an entity that might as well not exist.
The country that suffers from low birth rate is a rather obvious parallel with current Japan, while the way the government goes about its incentives for people to get children actually follows the traditional conservative/rightist triptych of “Country/Religion/Family”, which deems any who is not participating in any of the three as a pariah. Yoshiko feels this concept in her skin, as she is one step before being ostracized for not having children, but Sasaki moves even further, by showing a number of people mistreating those “whose face they do not recognize”, in a direct comment also about the immigration policy of the country. That a number of youths even become violent towards those people mirrors the behaviour of fascist groups, while the fact that they stream their deeds on social media videos that are rather popular, is another critique towards SNS and the way behaviours and individuals become rich and famous through them. That Japan has always been a rather homogenous country, also due to the aforementioned policy, gets its share of mockery in the film, as Sasaki presents all men having to wear pomade on their hair to look similar, in a rather hilarious approach to the particular comment.
Even harsher seems to be the critique of the politicians, with the leader here (portrayed excellently by Kai Shishido) being presented as a hypocritical caricature who desperately tries to retain his authority by passing laws that make no sense and by blaming foreigners for all the issues the country faces, in another rather familiar tactic of rightist governments.
The role the elderly play in all the above is also highlighted, as their always conservative ways actually help the aforementioned policies, while the way Sasaki goes in their presentation is hilarious, by having the elderly ladies of the city frequently singing and “dancing” in a style that seems like mocking chorus from the Greek tragedies.
Lastly, that even if God exists no one will recognize him anymore is another comment that moves towards the way religion functions these days, in an element that also bears some semblance with the story of Jesus.
Despite the plethora of comments, Sasaki retains a sense of entertainment throughout the movie that benefits the most by his own editing, through abrupt cuts on sequences, though, that are somewhat long. This aspect also owes much to the acting, with Asako Ito as Yoshiko and Hisako Okata (who many will remember from “Guilty of Romance”) giving truly memorable performances, the first through her anxious apathy and the second through her temperamental feistiness that even leads her to violence on occasion. Also amusing is Norihiko Tsukuda as Mr Suzuki, always showing an attitude that states that he feels completely lost and perplexed about what is happening around him. Kentaro Kishi’s cinematography sets a bleak tone that points towards a dystopian movie, in another excellent choice for the narrative.
In an interview Toshiaki Toyoda gave to Rouven Linnarz in 2019, he mentioned that he considers Japan a fascist country, with his later movies mirroring this opinion and his anger in the most eloquent fashion. Omoi Sasaki seems to harbour the same feelings, he just chose a completely different approach to present them, which ends up, though, being equally eloquent.
