Tokyo Fiancée

Tokyo Fiancée is a fun romantic cross-cultural charmer adapted from the autobiographical novel by Amélie Nothomb and based on her own personal experiences during the time she spent in Japan in 1989.

Obsessed with all things Japanese, Amélie (Pauline Etienne), a young adult in her 20s from Belgium, who was actually born in Japan, has just returned to the country where her heart is and where she feels most at home.

This film is a humorous heartwarming look at Japanese culture through the eyes of a bubbly wide-eyed westerner as Amélie goes on a personal journey of discovery and enlightenment. 

Pauline Étienne’s innocent comic performance is so captivating with her exuberant smile, pixie cut and stylish European fashion, that she keeps the viewer enthralled throughout the film. With the intention of making a life in Japan she begins working as a French tutor, giving private lessons to wealthy Japanese boys.

Tokyo Fiancée is very much a story of a flourishing romance between Amélie and one of her Japanese students, Rinri (Taichi Inoue). During their French lessons Rinri takes Amélie on tours to various parts of Tokyo to educate her about Japanese culture, and soon an awkward romantic connection between the two begins to blossom. 

Their romance quickly deepens further than expected given the culture clashes and Rinri’s disapproving parents. Western women are seen as too independent for Japanese men. But can they really overcome the ideological gap in their personalities to sustain a lasting relationship? 

If you enjoy romantic travel  and soul searching films like Lost in Translation (2003) or The Lover (1992), which are personal accounts of a secret romance abroad while discovering exciting and unusual new cultures, this is the film for you.

One of the funniest parts in the film is when she and Rinri go out one night with another expat and her Japanese boyfriend and a natural role reversal occurs when the couples are shown from the women’s perspective and the boys follow them like two puppies.

Amélie must do some deep soul searching of her own to find out how she really feels about Rinri after he proposes to her and she decides to go on a long solitary hiking trip to Mt. Fuji and the surrounding area to find some answers, leaving Rinri back in Tokyo.

The film captures the unique Japanese style of living and the charming village atmosphere of close-knit urban neighborhoods but also the sometimes difficult and lonely experience of living in a foreign country. As much as she loves Japan, Amélie loves her freedom and struggles with the idea of being tied down in a traditional marriage.

This is a delightful clash of cultures comedy that’s a thoroughly absorbing and enjoyable experience.

JP

A Girl at My Door

A Girl at My Door, the remarkable first feature film from Korean director July Jung is a brave and sharply observed drama about the ugly side of small town prejudices and thought-provoking inconvenient truths. 

We are introduced to a seaside fishing village on the Korean coast through the eyes of a newly arrived police chief, Young-nam from the capital city of Seoul.  She comes with her own psychological baggage after being reassigned but is determined to keep a low profile until she can return to the city.

This exceptional film keeps us completely entranced by the intensely captivating performances of Doona Bae as the new police chief and the story of a sullen ten year old girl, Do-Hee, who she finds wandering through the village late at night.

Curious about this glum girl’s strange behavior in her tattered clothes, Young-nam soon finds herself running to Do-Hee’s defense when the local kids, her drunken stepfather and crazy grandmother are regularly seen beating and abusing the defenseless girl.

There are many social issues that are touched on in this film about domestic violence and the state’s responsibility to protect children from abusive families. Korean films in general are well known for making jabs at Government incompetency and this film is no exception. 

The story is carefully set up from Young-nam’s perspective and we slowly discover more about the psychological damage the girl has suffered as she comes to seek refuge with the new police chief who is forced to take her in for a while to protect her from the village and her family.

Doona Bae brings the same intensity and piercing stare that she brought to her bow and arrow wielding character in The Host (2006). She is mesmerizing as we watch her battle with her inner conflicts and the town’s local bullies who seem to take pleasure in abusing the motherless Do-Hee.

Much like the fishing villages of Newfoundland that was so beautifully portrayed recently in The Grand Seduction (2014), A Girl at My Door was filmed in actual fishing villages around the Korean coastline and we get a sense of these insular communities and the small town politics that prevail there. 

Do-Hee quickly flourishes under Young-nam’s loving care and grows into a happy child over the summer vacation, but she must eventually return to her own home. And when Young-nam’s past comes back to haunt her, the only one who can protect the vulnerable Do-Hee is eventually arrested and the desperate girl is forced to take matters into her own hands.

The film makes a powerful statement about how the social system, like any government agency, fails the people they are there to protect in spite of their best intentions and is vulnerable to manipulation. 

July Jung is a powerful new voice in Korean cinema who I anticipate will be a force to watch. One of the best films at TIFF14.

JP

PRIDE

This delightful, uplifting, life affirming, British crowd-pleaser is the most fun you’ll have at the cinema this year. 

PRIDE is the true story of a genuine friendship and solidarity between the unlikeliest of people. During a bitter workers strike that saw a small Welsh mining community battling against the heavy handed Thatcher government’s closing of mines in 1984, an improbable ally came to their aide during their time of need.

Along the same inspirational feel-good lines as Billy Elliot (2000), and The Full Monty (1997), we follow similar UK working class folk finding themselves in unexpected circumstances that will challenge everyone’s preconceptions, opening their eyes and hearts to a whole new world, and creating life-long bonds between two oppressed communities.

Joe, a young shy teenager just discovering his sexuality and living in a conservative middle class family, suddenly finds himself pulled into a political conflict, attracted by a fun charismatic group of queer activists. The young passionate leader Mark, seeing a common plight against prejudice and injustice, leads the rag tag band of partying activists to take up the cause of miners in a small Welsh village they have never met and decide to help raise funds and share their years of experience fighting against government abuses.

Nestled in the remote picturesque rolling hills of Welsh country side, an ultra-conservative community is suffering under increasing pressure to give up their fight for what they believe, and are soon suffering as they find themselves cut-off from government social assistance, literally being starved back to work. The unions seem to be of little help but the unexpected kindness and assistance by what many consider to be deviants, perverts and worse may be too humiliating to accept.

It is said that ‘prejudice can’t survive proximity’ and in this shout out loud hilarious heart felt drama, friendship and good will goes a long way toward bridging differences and forging strong bonds when the small group of city activists from London decides to travel to South Wales and meet the families of the miners suffering under strong-arm tactics of the Thatcher government.

The message is as relevant today as it was at the time of the actual events thirty years ago. When the chips are down, that’s when you find out who your friends are. When the young group of radical city gays and lesbians take their first hesitant steps into the stark remote archaic Welsh village, they are as afraid and uncertain as the town’s folk are of them.

With all the awkwardness and hilarity of two people who want nothing to do with each other but find themselves coming together to fight a common enemy, and with classic 80s dance music by popular pop bands of the time like Bronski Beat, Culture Club, and Billy Idol, they gradually begin to accept and appreciate each other. 

There are superb comic performances by the British ensemble cast led by English greats like Bill Nighy – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), Imelda Staunton – Vera Drake (2004), Maleficent (2014) and Paddy Considine – Submarine (2010).

Don’t walk, march to the nearest cinema and cry and laugh with joy at every moment of this fabulous film. Look for PRIDE opening in select cinemas September 26 and now playing at TIFF14; Toronto International Film Festival.

JP

Aire Libre

Aire Libre is a raw honest depiction of a marriage between a middle class Argentine couple, Lucia and Manuel, trying to build a life together with their young son, which slowly disintegrates under the mundane banality of everyday life. The conflicts slowly build up without acknowledgement until tempers flare, eventually culminating in an explosive confrontation.

The film is a scathing critique on marriage and asks tough questions about the viability of staying in a long term relationship with one person and the possibility of happiness within a monogamous partnership.

The attractive actors give exceptionally intimate performances that look spontaneous and make us feel like intruders in a couple’s most private moments. The sexual moments are not sensual but are meant to show the emotional distance growing between them.

This couple has big plans to renovate a newly purchased house that will become their dream home, but the dream slowly dissolves as the dysfunction between them grows and the house falls apart like their marriage. They literally grow apart from each other and seem unable to come to any common ground, as much as we want to see them achieve their dreams.

Director Anahí Berneri uses the camera to give the effect of an intimate fly-on-the-wall style documentary that helps give the film a personal quality. 

There are no easy answers to marriage’s many problems but the film can be seen as a cautionary tale depicting many of the little annoyances in every relationship, and how they are brought to bear and gradually build to a point, if not acknowledged, that it comes to a destructive and tragic end, bringing out the worst qualities in people despite the best of intentions. 

The film takes its time to show us a complete life between two people and their young son and moves along at a steady sometimes tedious pace, which is the point of the film I would say. But like Boyhood (2014), the moments eventually grow into more than the sum of its parts and the dramatic ending is a poignant and satisfying one.

Aire Libre had its world premiere at the TIFF 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. 

JP