When you are struggling with the feeling of being an outsider for some reason, a time like a pandemic must be quite challenging. Director Hami Nishizaki was a student during the pandemic and that certainly had an impact on how she perceived these years, which for many define a time they look back on fondly later in their lives. In her medium length feature “The Outsiders’ Club” she aimed to communicate her feelings of that time, but also the way she saw the world around her during this stressful time. The result is a contemplation on alienation and feeling like you do not belong, besides being a study of everyday places and what meaning they can hold for different people.
The Outsiders’ Club is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
Makio (Shuichi Kawanobe) works as a janitor at a prestigious university in Tokyo. During one of his shifts he comes across an advert for a new club, the aptly named “Outsiders’ Club”, consisting of a young female student called Kinuko (Ayane Sakamoto) and another student. Both feel like they do not fully belong with their peers, because of their interest or their perception of certain events. Even though he is unconvinced of the club’s purpose, Makio changes his mind after an incident at work, which may or may not threaten his job. He returns to the club, this time with a plan to change things for the better, not just for him, but for all three “outsiders”.
Although the connection to the COVID pandemic is not that obvious (if it really was intended at all), director Hami Nishizaki definitely succeeds in creating a sense of alienation. The university as a public space, along with its classroom and hallways, feels familiar and strange at the same time. From the first moment on, you understand the sensation of the main character, who feels like he does not belong here, as the whole place appears lifeless and uninhabited. The same goes for Makio’s apartment, which feels crammed and stresses his isolation even further. As the two characters, Makio and Kinuko, walk through the university to find some kind of meaning in these anonymous, interchangeable places, “The Outsiders’ Club” becomes something close to a contemplation about the general search for meaning. At the same time, the use of space, light and dialogue highlights the absurdity of the situation, as very little meaning can be extracted in these locations in the first place.
However, considering the characters’ perception of the world around them, we have to be wary of what we see and what Makio is telling us. Shuichi Kawanobe plays a character that goes through his life with an apathetic expression on his face. What would be a tragedy or at the very least a reason to be angry, does not trigger any visible feeling in this character, who seems to be content with his state, his lonesomeness and isolation. The visuals support the mood of the character, which seems to be just as much of a misconception as the nature of the event is based on that threatens his position as the university’s janitor. At the same time, this is probably where “The Outsiders’ Club” falls short as it fails to deliver a convincing (and satisfying) way to conclude its character’s struggle, or, at the very least, extend its themes of misconception and perception.
“The Outsiders’ Club” is a typical student feature, with an interesting visual idea and solid character, but without a narratively engaging way of resolving its concepts and themes.
