Prepare yourself for a dreamy, spherical ghost show. Shinji Imaoka (“Underwater Love”, 2011) hijacks the audience for a 60-minute afterlife experience.
Is This Heaven? is screening at Camera Japan
Nobou is a middle-aged man, who has a drinking problem. In four episodes, named after alcoholic beverages, he wanders around a scenic waterfront meeting familiar and unknown people from the past, including his wife. In this otherworldly afterlife, everyone is (drunk) laughing and dancing and all sounds are muted. The plot deepens half-way through when Nobou meets the late ex-husband of his wife. Their conversation marks the emotional summit as they reminisce about the different memories that they shared with her.
Check also this interview
Veteran actor Hidetoshi Kawaya (“Romance Doll”, 2020) carries the whole film through his outgoing performance, celebrating his death. Nevertheless, the elliptical odyssey is hard to come by. Without a clear road ahead, Imaoka experiments with music and screenwriting, throwing in new characters and leaving behind the guiding structure of conventional filmmaking.
The calming vibe of the sea pairs well with the slow cinematography but lacks the hook to draw the viewer's attention. It also takes some time to adapt to the elusive concept, that is difficult to classify. Somewhere between humor and tragedy, “Is This Heaven?” plays with the elusiveness of things and the uncertainty of life. As Nobuo cannot define the place he is in, the whole story appears as a drunk dream that could be ended any minute by the alarm clock. Still, there is no chaos, but heavenly peace and a sense of a higher force that seems to orchestrate all the encounters that we see.
Director, screenwriter, and actor Shinji Imaoko, who is part of the Pink Film directors known as the “Seven Lucky Gods of Pink” has directed more than 40 films in his career that started almost 30 years ago. “Is this Heaven?” continues a trend in Imaoka's filmography from explicit nudity to more serious topics about relationships and human existence in general. Presenting an interesting idea of sound and calm beach vibes with a lot of drinking involved, the movie surely finds its audience.
