Over the course of the last few years, we have learned to live with a certain amount of relinquishment in our daily routine, since due to the pandemic, we have restricted our social bonds to a minimum and stayed mostly indoors, afraid of becoming infected. While the damage COVID has caused is overwhelming, the time of social distancing has also led to a valuable lesson for many, a period of self-reflection and being alone with yourself, as well as a time of reassessing the foundations of our lives and whether they might actually result in the goals we have set for ourselves so many years ago.
“Summer Wedding” is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
Incidentally, we have seen many artists not only going through the same kind of development, but also using their talents to express their thoughts and feelings sparked by a time defined by isolation and self-reflection. In her short feature “Summer Wedding”, photographer and director Azusa Hieda explores the lessons learned through this period, concentrating on a couple who have isolated themselves in a secluded location. The story deals with a multitude of issues, perhaps most importantly, the maintaining of emotional connections to one another, the role of the past and how it still has control over us as well as the effect of the pandemic on human relationship.
At the core of the feature, we meet two lovers (Rika Kurosawa and Daiki Nuami) who have been spending the last couple of months together in a small house. In memory of her deceased father, the woman prepares a wedding ceremony between her and her lover, and has thus started making the cake and her wedding dress for the occasion. However, on the day the ceremony takes place, there is a shadow cast over their happiness when a surprise phone call changes everything.
Even though there is a distinct bleakness given the circumstances of the pandemic, there is also a certain tenderness in the short feature, especially in terms of visuals. The various preparations the young woman goes through, the cake, the dress and the rings, all of which accompanied by soft, sentimental music and close-ups, add to the importance of that particular event. Overall, there is a bittersweet tone throughout “Summer Wedding”, defined by the combination of the happiness associated with a wedding and the fleeting quality of the moment shared by the two characters, which consequently is interrupted by reality, in this case, a phone call from work.
Given the subtle approach in the visual storytelling and the acting, “Summer Wedding” achieves a distinct quality which addresses many of the issues people have been going through during the pandemic, the idea of self-reflection and the importance of clinging on to emotional connections, to people and the past.
In conclusion, “Summer Wedding” is a great short feature attempting to capture the period of self-isolation and social distancing as well as the importance of human connection. Azusa Hieda's understated and subtle approach creates a touching story of two characters trying to maintain a link to one another under the most difficult circumstances.
