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michael-bungay
Reviews
Ushiro no shoumen daare (1991)
From out of the Shadow of 'Fireflies' and 'Gen'...
After reviewing 'Grave of the Fireflies' (1988) and the 'Barefoot Gen' films (1983 and 1986), I am reviewing the 1991 film 'Who's Left Behind? - Kayoko's Diary'. Now the film has had a limited release outside of its native Japan and is only available in its original Japanese format. I am composing this review to the best of what I know from watching the film on YouTube with the obvious limitations of not being able to understand written or conversational Japanese.
The film focuses on 6 year old Kayoko who lives in Tokyo with her parents Otokichi and Yoshi, her Grandmother and older brothers Tadayoshi, Takejiro and Kisaburo. Kisaburo is particularly close to Kayoko and they remain strong allies throughout the film despite the occasional torments that Kayoko's brothers subject her to. The fact that Kayoko is the first and only girl to be born into the Nakane family is the main reason why her brothers sometimes torment her.
The time period begins in 1940 and gradually progresses to the Tokyo fire-bombing on March 9th-10th 1945. At first, the impending threat of World War 2 is the least of Kayoko's worries as she has enough trouble fitting in at school and home as she gets upset and intimidated very easily, causing great embarrassment to herself and her family.
As time goes by, the threat of War increases and so do Kayoko's responsibilities as her mother becomes pregnant with her 5th child around about 1941 or 1942. This means another brother named Konosuke for Kayoko so she handles the responsibilities of being an older sibling reasonably well apart from nearly losing Konosuke because she is distracted spending time with her friends.
The War soon takes precedence over everything else that once mattered as the Nakane family regularly show their support for the Great Japanese Empire and donate several of their most treasured possessions to help with the War effort. Indeed, by about 1943 or 1944, Kayoko is evacuated into the countryside of rural Numazu to go and live with her Aunt and has to leave her entire family behind.
Kayoko's evacuation proves well-timed as the film grows ever more darker in tone as the War situation rapidly turns against Japan and in favour of the invading American Armed Forces. Kayoko is already homesick enough as it is and regularly writes to her family back in Tokyo but the worst is still yet to come and all that she has been through up until now pales into insignificance by comparison as soon as 1945 comes along.
The first sign of how much the situation has deteriorated comes when Kayoko, her Aunt and all their neighbours retreat into the forests for cover as a fleet of American B-29 Super-fortress bombers fly overhead. As soon as Kayoko realises the American bombers are flying towards Tokyo, her heart immediately goes out for her family and wonders with a great sense of dread what is going to happen to them. Not long after this, Kayoko narrowly escapes being shot by a low-flying P-51 Mustang but a soldier on his bicycle is not so lucky. Kayoko then receives a visit from the injured Kisaburo who has come to tell her of the devastating fire-bomb attack on Tokyo and what it means for him and his sister. The now 11 year old Kayoko and her Aunt subsequently return to Tokyo and stay in a bunker on the outskirts of the destroyed city. At this point Kayoko realises the full extent of how lucky she was to be evacuated.
Overall, the film proves to be worth far more than its limited release outside of Japan suggests. It does take a while to properly get going in terms of emphasising just how devastating the effects of War can be, and certainly much longer than 'Grave of the Fireflies' and 'Barefoot Gen' but still does an effective job of proving such a point. The animation quality definitely benefits from being nearly a decade more up to date than the first 'Barefoot Gen' but is still not quite up to Studio Ghibli's standards. Because the film attempts to cram just over half a decade into 90 minutes, much of the focus is on Kayoko and her family trying to go about their everyday lives whilst supporting the War effort as much as they can right up until the evacuation scene. This proves rather poignant as well as an ominous sign of the terrible things to come as Kisaburo runs for a great distance alongside the passenger train on which Kayoko is travelling to Numazu, trying to say a lot more than just a long goodbye.
The fact that the film is relatively slow for the most part actually works in its favour as it serves to show how much Kayoko grows and matures as a person over time. For instance, when Kayoko wakes up in the aforementioned bunker, she bumps her head on the low ceiling and simply rubs it with no fuss. This is a significant change from the early stages of the film where Kayoko cries like a baby over simple things. It is when Konosuke is born when Kayoko's maturity starts to gradually develop as she is now no longer the youngest child of the family even if she remains the only daughter.
On the whole, if you have already seen 'Grave of the Fireflies' and the 'Barefoot Gen' films then this film will just feel like repetition and the lack of subtitles and translation will further put-off a non-Japanese audience. However given the chance, the audience will find the gradual progression to the outbreak of War on the civilian side of Japan in this film a much more refreshing approach than those of it's 1980's counterparts. As if this film is not already hard enough to find there is also an even rarer remake made in 2005 to look out for.
Dot and the Kangaroo (1977)
A great film but too many sequels! Two sequels was quite enough!
I am focusing my attention on the story of 'Dot and the Kangaroo'. Now I am reviewing a film that can only be seen by a British audience on YouTube unless in this case, you happen to own a multi-region DVD Player. Therefore, I am composing this review to the best of what I have managed to gather from watching the film on YouTube. Anyway here goes, the film is based on the posthumous 1899 novel of the same name by Ethel C. Pedley (1859-1898).
The film begins with 5-year-old Dot (Barbara Frawley) lost and alone in the woods of New South Wales after asking her parents' permission to go off exploring only to fall down an embankment. Wondering through the woods and encountering wild animals, the child is thankfully found by a mother kangaroo (Joan Bruce who also plays Dot's mother) who has lost her joey and therefore is inclined to help Dot. Thus Dot embarks on an amazing musical adventure through the wilds of the Australian Outback in the safety of the kangaroo's pouch.
Now, the kangaroo can keep Dot safe but she cannot help her alone and the other animals of the forest cannot help them either, mostly due to their anger towards humans. 'What have the humans ever done for us?' Some of the animals ask aloud despite most of them being friendly towards Dot. Indeed, by this time, Dot's parents have realised their daughter's absence and her father (Ron Haddrick) and grandfather are looking for her.
The other animals put their anger to one side upon hearing of the kangaroo's reasons for helping Dot and recommend seeking help from the platypus couple (June Salter and the great Spike Milligan). This our heroines do, discovering the Jenolan caves that are along the way and learning of the mythological Bunyip of Indigenous Australian legend from the Aboriginal Art that graces the walls of these caves.
The platypus couple are no more trusting towards mankind as the rest of the animal kingdom but their advice leads our heroines to the more friendly Willie-Wagtail (Ross Higgins) and hopefully lead Dot home. It also leads to a brief encounter with some aborigines and their dingoes near the Blue Mountains, which only serves to further strengthen the bond between Dot and the red kangaroo. Of course, there is only so long that such a bond can hold without potentially upsetting the balance of Nature.
In a ground-breaking (for its time) film that will pull at the heart-strings of its audience to an extreme degree, directors Yoram and Sandra Gross go to great lengths to portray the negative impact of Mankind on Nature from around 1884 onwards, as is emphasised in the book as well as portraying animated characters within a live-action setting. Indeed, the film certainly goes some way to achieving this goal as it was successful enough to spawn eight sequels, each of which featuring young Dot learning more about what her kind have done and are still doing to the Animal kingdom and some in cases, to themselves.
Therefore, young Dot will continue to strive to get that message across to the rest of her kind whatever it takes even if it means going on more adventures or dare I say it, exposing some of the more negative aspects of Dot's character that you will not really see as such in the earlier sequels. Good luck trying to find the time to watch the remainder of Dot's adventures because eight sequels is a lot to get through and if you ask me, the style, quality and appeal of the animation (not to mention the plots) will gradually start to vary and not always for the better. Of course this is just my personal opinion, and as the old saying goes, 'Each to their Own'.