Daichi Amano was born in Tokyo in 1988. He graduated from the California Institute of the Arts. My God Never Dies (19) was screened at the Ji.hlava IDFF in Czechia. Pain of the Anonymous (21), Grand-prix winner of the 5th MOON CINEMA PROJECT, was selected for the 39th Busan International Short Film Festival and the 40th CAAM Film Festival, and won the Best National Short and the Japan Premiere Award at the 17th Sapporo International Short Film Festival & Market.
Don't Go is screening at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival
The story takes place in a world where, through a special device actually provided by funeral homes (in an element that is darkly funny, as is the whole demeanor of the person in charge actually) people can see the memories of the dead. The Imais, mother, daughter and son, decide to enter the memory of the father, who has been killed in a car accident in a seaside town, to learn why he had to hide his destination from them. In road trip in time fashion, they start with his childhood with his mother, move to him having become a father, and meeting his mistress that turns out most of the family members knew about and forces one of them to actually react. A scene at the beach (as almost always in Japanese movies nowadays) brings more introspect in the family's life, the pain of the mother and the father's shenanigans, while finally resulting in an actual interaction with him that actually carries the 25-minute short until the end.
Check also this interview
Daichi Amano directs a very tender and amusing movie that essentially shows how important the need for closure is for the people who are “left behind” as much as how the lack of communication can lead to misconceptions, with the beach scene actually highlighting them both, and the rest providing a path towards the particular closure. As we watch how the family's sentiments change, one can only empathize with all of them, while the tragic irony of the end, and the interaction the three experience, adds even more to the entertainment, and the whole aesthetics of the movie.
The road movie down memory lane aspect also works well here, despite the somewhat cliched approach which includes the scene in the beach, particularly due to the excellent cinematography, that equally highlights the voyeuristic approach, the meta breaking of the wall (as it happens in the movie within the movie) and presents a number of images of intense beauty, with the ones in the sea definitely staying on mind. The editing is on a very high level too, with the fact that the family asks the funeral house employee to change the scene each time they want to move forward, also adding to the meta element here.
The acting is equally competent. Kaori Takeshita as the mother who gradually loses it, Seiichiro Kannada as the “guilty” but likeable father, Riku Tanaka as the son who keeps his calm at all times and Yuui Nagata as the daughter with the temper (obviously the son mirrors the father and the daughter the mother) all give excellent performances, highlighting their chemistry, while Wataru Murakami as the handler is the main source of the subtle comedy in the movie
“Don't Go” is an excellent movie that manages to make its comments about life and family in the most entertaining fashion, while retaining a cinematic artfulness from beginning to end.
