Filmed over a span of 22 years and produced by a local television network, the documentary follows the patriarch Torao Inuzuka and his family of seven children living together on Goto Island in Nagasaki prefecture. Based on strict rules, the family-run Udon business dominates the daily routine of the children, which ultimately leads to conflict and departure. As some of the children gradually move away to the mainland to chase after their dreams, Torao becomes more and more addicted to alcohol.
Bittersweet, melancholic, and highly educational, “Tora-San of Goto” tells an epic story about homecoming and family dynamics. Oura's blunt and realistic style leads deep into the core of human beings revealing all its negative but also positive aspects. In the tradition of the old cinematic grandmaster of Japanese family drama such as Yazujiro Ozu (Film Review: Early Summer (1951) by Yasujiro Ozu), the everchanging circle of life and death is presented with a contemporary fly-on-the-wall gaze, which can be found in the works of Kazuo Hara (Documentary Review: MINAMATA Mandala (2020) by Kazuo Hara) or Kazuhiro Soda (Documentary Review: Campaign (2007) Kazuhiro Soda).
A sign of quality deviates from the subjective feeling that the almost two hours of runtime do not feel like it at all. Different from other documentaries about social issues, “Tora-San of Goto” manages to keep the attention span on the highest level, all the time. Due to the constructed intimacy, we become part of the family and part of this inspirational piece of art, giving us a better understanding of the world around us.
