Kazoku:Eiga Sai 2014, Day 6

In the film that I saw on my fifth day at Eiga Sai, family ties are tested by a cruel twist of fate. Let's find out how such ties are put to the test once more in the film on my sixth day at the fest. 

• "Reunion" by Ryoichi Kimizuka (105 mins)

Filipinos can relate to this film, as it's about a seaside town struck by a devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 3, 2011, now known as the Great East Japan Earthquake or, simply, 3/11. That's why the festival organizers chose "Family" as the theme for this year, because aside from the high regard that Filipinos and Japanese both place on the family, they also have a shared affinity in regards being resilient in the face of a disaster, with their respective nations acting as one big family to overcome the hardships and challenges. Be forewarned, though. For while the filmmaker, in all good intentions, opts not to show the actual disaster (which would be otherwise if this was a Hollywood summer blockbuster fare), what transpires throughout the film gives one a heavy feeling. It's not an easy watch:death abounds throughout and feelings of sorrow and grief pervade the atmosphere. Not since the Oscar-winning "Departures" has the subject of death been at the forefront of Japanese cinema this much. It can't be emphasized enough how Japanese cinema is characterized by restraint and subtlety. For, given the amount of bathos inherent in the material, it's a remarkable attribute of the screenplay (written by the director himself and based on first-hand accounts of a journalist) that it doesn't sensationalize the delicate feelings involved but instead accords them due respect. It shows in how the scenes involving the dead and the families in grief are handled with utmost sensitivity. Just when a particular sad and heavy moment  is in danger of treading the path of sentimentality, we are reminded good enough that more than the pain and grief felt by those left behind, it is also about respecting the dead and the solemnity of the rituals being accorded to them. "Reunion" doesn't dwell on crying bouts, to put it bluntly. 

The person in-charge of taking care of the dead in the make-shift morgue, Mr. Aiba (portrayed with a down-to-earth warmth and grace by Toshiyuki Nishida), talks to the deceased, gears them up and comforts them in a manner as if they hadn't really left this place on Earth;he even tries to remember their names. He is of the firm belief that they are not just "corpses" to be left lying around and treated like objects, but are "deceased" who mean so much to their loved ones. Natural disasters, because of their gravity and suddenness, do really put an unimaginable toll on our lives. And if the most basic unit of society, the family, gets severely destroyed by such, the presence of persons who are able to provide genuine warmth, sympathy and comfort, more than any material aid, in these hardest of times becomes a true blessing. In this manner, "Reunion" is the most stark yet moving film I've seen in Eiga Sai thus far. 

(Ryoichi Kimizuka's "Reunion":A stark subject handled with respect.)