After having more than 30 credits to her name as actress, it was time for Shuna Iijima to sit in the director’s chair. And judging by the 16-minute short, “Natsuko“, she definitely did the right thing.
Bagmati River is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
The story focuses on Natsuko, a middle-aged woman living with her husband in the countryside. As the film begins, we watch her returning to her house, where she proceeds on cooking and cleaning. Despite the fact that her endeavors are of the every day kind, there is an evident tension in her movements, excellently communicated by both her and the way the sound is implemented. A bit later, we see her interacting with a neighbor, played by Iijima, who sells various utensils, and we learn of the source of her tension. Her husband, a few times a year, goes away for a couple of days to meet his daughter from his previous marriage, a futile endeavor that leaves Natsuko empty and frustrated, with the house chores being the only thing that calms her down.
Shuna Iijima directs a film that focuses on bottled emotions, how they can burn a person inside, and the ways people implement to deal with them, even more so in a society like the Japanese where expressing one’s feelings is almost taboo. The way these feelings, along with the loneliness Natsuko experiences, are presented, is the short’s best trait. Starting with the excellent, rather measured until it is not, performance of Kaori Takeshita, continuing with Sam King’s excellent long shots that capture her isolation in the best way while the cloudy weather and the gray tones match her psychology to perfection, and closing with Rim Fyend’s economical editing that presents a full story, without much dialogue, in a pace that allows it to unfold in just 16 minutes, her mentality is presented in the most artful fashion.
Particularly the scene where Natsuko finally lets her frustration out is a true wonder to look at, also showing that letting out, even in the most absurd way, can actually be therapeutic.
“Natsuko” is a great short, an excellent beginning for Iijima’s filmmaking career, and a testament to the fact that she absorbed the “lessons” she got from her career as an actress and particularly her collaborations with Anshul Chauhan, in the best way possible.
