A Little More, Pony Canyon, Eisei Gekijo, Asahi Broadcasting Corp., Culture Publishers, Asmik Ace Entertainment production. Produced by Miyoshi Kikuchi. Executive producers, Sun Chiapang, Kyoichi Mori. Directed, written by Toshiaki Toyoda, from the novel by Mitsuyo Kakuta.
With: Masahiro Hirota, Itsuji Itao, Kyoko Koizumi, Michiyo Ookusu, Anne Suzuki, Sonim, Hiromi Nagasaku, Ryo Katsuji.
Another unpredictable left turn in story and stylistic terrain for helmer Toshiaki Toyoda ("Pornostar," "Blue Spring," "9 Souls"), "Hanging Garden" offers surreal satire of the dysfunctional modern Japanese family unit. Adaptation of Mitsuyo Kakuta's 2003 novel achieves a successful balancing act between restrained, almost clinical p.o.v. and outre content, though those without a taste for black comedy may find it all too alienatingly schematic. At home, pic is unlikely to achieve anything near the returns of the more sentimental "Spring," while offshore fest dates should be followed by specialized DVD sales.
On the surface, the Kyobashi clan is a picture of happy suburban domesticity, though even such a seemingly innocent rule as, "We share everything with each other" tends to result in disclosures more creepy than comforting. One such breakfast conversation produces the information that 16-year-old Mana (Anne Suzuki) was conceived at a garish low-end "love hotel." She then becomes obsessed with spending time there, with or without the sexual company of the male strangers she picks up.
Younger brother Ko (Masahiro Hirota) channels his own nascent carnal urges toward Mina (Sonim), the attractive young woman hired to tutor him after school, not realizing she is already the randy mistress of dad Takashi (Itsuji Itao). Latter's extramarital promiscuity can be somewhat explained by the cold shoulder long given him by wife Eriko (Kyoko Koizumi), who puts up a hyper-cheerful front but may well be the most disturbed of the bunch.
Any illusions the family members might still have about each other are shattered amid the revelations that spill out during a climactic, drunken birthday party. Pic perhaps errs in capping this alarmingly funny set piece with what's intended as a cathartic moment of primal-scream pain -- "Hanging Garden" is too consistently grotesque to earn such pathos.
Still for the most part, pic's gambits pay off, the air of curiously calm perversity in skillful direction and deadpan perfs creating a neat frisson with the production's more over-the-top elements. Latter include the design contribs of Junichi Fujisawa's acrobatic lensing and Mitsuo Harada's sometimes op-art crazed set designs.
Camera (color), Junichi Fujisawa; editor, Mototaka Kusakabe; music, Kazuhide Yamaji; music supervisor, ZAK; production designer, Mitsuo Harada; costume designer, Masae Miyamoto; sound, Kiyoshi Kazizawa. Reviewed at San Francisco Indiefest, Feb. 4, 2006. Running time: 113 MIN.
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Date in print: Mon., May. 8, 2006