Film Review: The World for the Two Of Us (2022) by Kasho Iizuka

Films about LGBTQI+ have become more common during the recent years, with a number of Asian productions focusing on the concept and its social repercussions in various forms. Kasho Iizuka deals with a rather unusual theme in that spectrum however, by focusing on the relationship of a straight woman with a transgender, and the strain the former's will to have children places in their relationship.

“The World for the Two of Us” is available from Nikkatsu

The aforementioned girl, Yui Konno, works at a nursery school, and it is there where she meets Shinya Kobori, who runs a lunchbox shop with his mother. The two eventually start dating, but Shinya always denies having sex with her, a concept a close friend and colleague regularly roasts her about. Eventually, Shinya reveals that he is a transgender in the process of becoming a man, but Yui, despite the fact that the two cannot get officially marry, decides to live with him. Her will to have children, however, eventually creates a chasm between them they cannot get over, resulting in their breaking up. They both take their own different romantic paths, but, at some point, they meet again. 

Kasho Iizuka directs a slow-burning, subtle, with a focus on realism indie drama, that is both a romantic story of two people through the years, and a thorough look on the problems transgender people face in Japan. Taking his time, the director manages to analyze his characters fully, creating empathy for both and generating drama, with the issues they face, the anger that inevitably takes over, and particularly their break-up being the main components of this aspect. At the same time, he poses a question of whether love is enough to overcome problems that are physical and not psychological, eventually giving an answer that is somewhat idyllic, but also presents a viable solution to a practical problem, additionally highlighting how much patience and open-mindedness a relationship such as this would demand. 

Apart from these, however, and in an effort to also add some elements of pure entertainment to the narrative, Iizuka has included some humor, mostly through Yui's colleague who always tells the truth in the most hilariously annoying way, a brief moment of violence, and some erotic scenes, which do not include however, any kind of nudity. These aspects help in bringing some tension in an otherwise pretty tame movie, and along with the overall story, are the ones that carry the title for the majority of its duration. At the same time, however, the sense that Iizuka could have gone a step further in his presentation, not pulling so many punches, visually at least, to a subject that occasionally even demanded it, faults the overall taste the movie leaves. 

On the other hand, there are a number of elements that compensate. DP Kenichi Negishi captures the world of everyday people the two protagonists inhabit with realism and artfulness, without any kind of hyperbole. Makoto Abe's editing implements a rather slow pace, that fits the general premises of the story, while the whole audiovisual aspect is characterized by a very welcome economical approach, that is also mirrored in the “sensible” 83 minutes of the movie. 

The same applies to the acting, with Yuki Katayama as Yui and Ryota Bando as Shinya giving rather measured performances, which also highlight the few moments where they “erupt”. Their chemistry is also quite good, with a phrase Shinya's mother utters, of the two being a good fit since they are both kind of weird, synopsizing it in the best way. 

The intensely art-house approach implemented in “The World for the Two of Us” makes it a somewhat demanding viewing, but the title seems like a perfect fit for the festival circuit, additionally because it highlights a concept that is very rarely witnessed on cinema.