Obscure Japanese Film #273

Takahiro Tamura

Arai Yohiro

Minoru (Takahiro Tamura) is a middle-aged man who returns to theisland of Okinoerabu in the far south of Japan for the first time inover 30 years. He relives long-forgotten memories of his childhoodand his widowed mother (Atsuko Kaku), who died there when he wasstill a boy (Arai Yohiro), and meets an old man (Kamatari Fujiwara) who had been inlove with her.

Atsuko Kaku

Based on anautobiographical novel by Jiro Isshiki (1916-88) which won the OsamuDazai prize on its publication in 1967, this was the first ofjust two films directed by renowned cinematographer ToichiroNarushima (1925-93), who also worked as his own DP and producer herein addition to co-writing the screenplay. Previously, he had providedfirst-rate camerawork for mostly ‘new wave’ directors such asYoshishige Yoshida, Masahiro Shinoda, Noboru Nakamura and NagisaOshima after starting out as an assistant cameraman for KeisukeKinoshita. He clearly learnt a few things from working with suchacclaimed filmmakers as, not only is the photography in this film asstriking as one would expect from Narushima, but he proves to have afirm hand in other areas too.

Atsuko Kaku

The story is thesort of nostalgic, sentimental material that could easily have becomecloying, but Narushima mostly avoids this by preventing his actorsfrom overdoing it and staging his scenes with taste and subtlety,while the device of having the young and old Minoru frequentlyappearing together - almost as if the older one were a timetraveller – works especially well, as does the purposefully non-chronological unfolding of events in the flashbacks (the most dramatic scene is held back until the older Minoru can finally face it). Time within Memory alsobenefits from its well-used locations and Toru Takemitsu’s score,which provides much of the emotional resonance even if its not one ofhis greatest.

Yunosuke Ito and Hisano Yamaoka

Delivering a fineperformance in only her third film appearance, Atsuko Kaku won theMainichi Film Concours Award for Best Actress, but for some reasonnever made another film. Like Tatsuya Nakadai and many otherwell-known Japanese actors, she was a member of the Haiyuza theatrecompany. 

Jun Hamamura

As a passive observer of his own past, Takahiro Tamura hasless to do despiteostensibly having the lead role, while other notables among the castinclude Yunosuke Ito as Minoru’s eccentric inventor grandfather and Hisano Yamaoka as his wife, Taiji Tonoyama as a shopkeeper sympathetic to the youngMinoru, and Jun Hamamura as a mumbo-jumbo mumbling shaman. However,it’s Kamatari Fujiwara who impresses the most among the supportingcast when he sings and accompanies himself on the shamisen ina uniquely individual style (assuming he wasn’t dubbed).

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Kamatari Fujiwara