Funerals in Japan have always been an inspiration for a cinema that leans so much on the family drama/comedy, as the concept gives opportunities for drama, dark comedy and social comments to an equal degree. Noriko Yuasa, in her feature debut, presents her take, in a film that leans more towards the comedy.
Performing KAORU’s Funeral is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
Just as she was to be recognized and lauded for her talents as a scriptwriter, Kaoru was killed in an accident. In her last will and testament, in which her eccentricity and elusiveness are found aplenty, she has tasked her ex-husband, self-proclaimed actor Jun Yokotani, to serve as chief mourner and host her funeral. Through surprised by the sudden news and his appointment, Jun takes the trip to the small village where Kaoru grew up, only to find that her family and ‘inner circle” is comprised of a bunch of eccentrics, including a daughter by an unknown father, also named Kaoru, whom he knew nothing about. All the participants seem to foster their own complicated feelings for the deceased, most of which eventually come to the surface.
Noriko Yuasa directs a film that bases a lot on the characters and their quirks, as much as the way all of them were drawn to Kaoru, who lured them in but eventually let them go, essentially stupefied and frequently bitter. Jun is particularly perplexed by everything that is happening, while the fact that he has to get along with teenager Kaoru, who is handling the whole thing like a… teenager does not make things easier for either. Their frustration, however, is released in a muddy scene, probably the most entertaining in the whole movie. Apart from the two, it seems that there are a number of people present whom the deceased have affairs with, one of which is a true surprise revealed close to the end. A number of people from the industry add a meta level to the narrative, with Yuasa taking at least one jab at the local one, when one of them mentions “In Japan today, original projects never get greenlighted”.
The ones who steal the show, however, are definitely two. Firstly, Kira Nakji, a scriptwriter & part-time scenario school instructor who has the omnipresent role of the guy who gets drunk and acts like a buffoon the whole time. Secondly, the beautiful young wife who does not fit well in the particular community and eventually finds herself under attack by the family’s patriarch, only to reciprocate in another of the most memorable scenes in the movie. As such, the comments about the particular field are completed with a number about the place of women in Japanese society and the whole concept of patriarchy, although the presence of Kaoru definitely turns the whole thing on its head.
DP Victor Catala captures the proceedings using handheld cameras excessively, in an approach that both looks documentary-like on occasion and has enough “tricks” to highlight that this is a movie. The square frame for the flashbacks also work quite well, additionally because the majority of them are well placed within the narrative, in a testament to the prowess of Shinji Kawamura’s editing, who retains a very fitting mid to fast tempo throughout the movie. Joan Villa’s jazz sounds also work nicely, especially in the more uptempo tracks. Of course, the ever present lagging towards the end, and the scenes in the sea could not be missing from another Japanese movie, but in general, Yuasa handles the whole thing nicely.
Kano Ichiki as Kaoru highlights her eccentricity nicely, while Chise Niitsu, as young Kaoru, plays her part in a way that suggests that her mother was just as she is now when she was young. Jun Yokotani presents his frustration, disorientation and inadaptability quite convincingly, while Yasufumi Kuramoto as Akira Nakji steals the show with his despicable behavior.
“Performing KAORU’s Funeral” is a very entertaining film that continues the legacy of excellent Japanese family dramas revolving around funerals in the best fashion, in a movie that is bound to make its viewers smile a number of times.
