Filipino Reviews Reviews

Film Review: This Place (2024) by Jaime Pacena II

Kono Basho Gabby Padilla Arisa Nakano
"People pay that much to remember? Memory is important"

Shot by , who drew from his decade-long journey as a visual artist in Tohoku, Japan, witnessing the resilience of Rikuzentakata, a city profoundly altered by the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, “” was one of the big winners in this year’s , netting awards for Best Direction, Cinematography, Production Design and Actress for .

Ella, a 28-year-old Filipina anthropologist, travels to Rikuzentakata City for her estranged father Emman’s funeral. Finding herself in an environment where most do not speak Tagalog or English, and retaining a frustration for the fact that her father had a second family while abandoning her, she is obviously in a bad mood from the get go. That she has to stay in the same house with the rest of his family, and even more, the opening of the will which essentially demands from her to share with her newfound sister, painter Reina, increases her nerves, bringing her to a boiling point.

Reina’s will to get to know her better, though, makes Ella look at her newly found situation from a different perspective, reevaluate the actions of her father, and deal with the personal issues she is facing. In the meantime, Reina has her own set of personal problems, while a trip through the destroyed and in the process of healing Rikuzentakata provides a parallel to the situation of the two sisters.

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Allow me to start with the negative. The approach Jaime Pacena II implements here is quite European, with the many close ups to the faces of the protagonists, the pretentiousness, as dictated by the forced inclusion of various types of art in the narrative (photography for the most part), the rather sentimental music and the inclusion of mental illness in an attempt to include a socially-relevant element all pointing towards the specific direction. Furthemore, the transition towards the transformation Ella experiences is not handled particularly well, appearing rushed and essentially illogical. Lastly, the road movie aspect in the areas destroyed by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, borders on the cliche, with the film frequently appearing as very Japanese in that regard, but in many of its bad ways.

On the other hand, there are also a number of traits here that do save the movie in the end, to a point at least. For starters, Dan Villegas’s cinematography is stunning throughout. Starting with the Japanese house, continuing with the various places the two sisters visit, and concluding with the presentation of Reina’s art, the framing in particular is exquisite. Furthermore, and in combination with the coloring, results in a series of images that are bound to stay on mind. Lastly, the close ups, particularly to Padilla, work quite well, both due to her acting and her rather appealing face.

And this brings us to the second trait, with the Filipino’s acting, and particularly the way she handles her frustration in the beginning and something completely different in the end, being equally convincing, even in a character that could have been better written. On a meta note, it is amusing that Padilla plays a Filipino who goes to Japan and does not speak English, after playing a Tagalog-Japanese interpreter for a Japanese coming to the Philippines in “”. as Reina is relatively good, but she is excessive at moments, particularly in the way she presents her character’s need to connect with her sister. The moment she finally erupts could also have been handled better, in a role that feels as if it was too demanding for her. Her chemistry with Padilla, on the other hand, works quite well, in one of the best aspects of the movie.

The comments here are also interesting, particularly the ones about identity and how it is shaped through interaction, and how misconception and lack of understanding (and communication) can create bad blood among people, with the trauma Ella is experiencing essentially dictating her life until she meets her sister.


Marya Ignacio’s editing results in an expectedly leisure pace, which lasts, however, for 85 minutes, thus avoiding one of the main issues of Japanese cinema.

In the end, “This Place” emerges as a mixed bag of a film, whose faults match its traits one-by-one, with the combination of Japanese and European approach, in the way it is shaped by festival cinema, do not working that well. It feels, though, as a film that will find much appeal among (European) film festivals, something that is bound to give it a decent run throughout the continent.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.

Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.

Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.

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