HARMONIUM. (2016) WRITTEN, EDITED AND DIRECTED BY KOJI FUKADA.
STARRING MARIKO TSUTSUI, KANJI FURUTACHI, TADANOBU ASANO, TAIGA AND
MOMONE SHINOKAWA. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
If this excellent Japanese drama teaches us anything, it's surely that you don't invite your old partner-in-crime into your home and business when he's newly-released from the can, even if it is only supposed to be for three weeks. That's the mistake that Toshio makes. Let's take a closer look at how exactly he laid his little family open to catastrophe...
Okay. So Toshio is just a regular Japanese guy living in modern times. He's married to Akie and they have a daughter of about eight or so called Hotaru, who might or not be musically inclined. Toshio operates some kind of machinery shop out of his garage. It looks like some kind of sheet metal work or something. I'm no expert on the subject...!
Toshio seems to take only a minimal interest in his wife and daughter. He barely engages in conversation with them while they, on the other hand, have a close bond with each other, as mothers and daughters often do. Akie is a great wife and mother but it's obvious that she's bored out of her brains with the remote and uncaring Toshio and unfulfilled in her marriage, and who could blame her?
Into this mix comes Yasaka, Toshio's old mucker (slang for pal/workmate!), who's just spent eleven years in the nick for the murder of a young man. He appears to genuinely repent his crime, though, and he even writes to his victim's family asking for forgiveness. He's clean and nicely-dressed and he has lovely manners. He helps around the house. Wow. Where can I get one of these paragons of male virtue for myself, haha...!
Above all, he's super-attentive to little Hotaru, teaching her to play the titular harmonium, and he likes spending time with Akie, too. Before long, they're having a full-on emotional affair, even if they haven't exactly done the dirty deed yet. One fateful day, Yasaka tries to force his sexual attentions on Akie. The brutal consequences of this action will last for the rest of all of their lives...
It's a film of two halves, really. The first half ends after the attempted rape and its calamitous and horrific results. The second half is almost like a different film entirely, but it's no less thrilling. In this second half, Yasaka is gone (for now) and Toshio and his little family are living every day with the terrible consequences of bringing Yasaka, a former yakuza, into their lives.
Toshio and even the gentle Akie want to find Yasaka and exact revenge from him for his actions. But revenge is a mug's game. Is it ever worth it? On top of all that, Toshio takes a new apprentice into his workshop. Takashi is his name and he has a most interesting parentage. When Toshio and Akie find out who their new employee really is, what will they decide to do about it...?
This marvellous movie was recently shown at the 2017 Glasgow Film Festival and, as far as I know, it'll be in the cinemas soon enough as well. I'd strongly advise a peep at it. It's beautifully shot and it features some stunning rural Japanese scenery that'll really make you want to go there. That's the effect it always has on me, anyway...!
It's one of those cuckoo-in-the-nest films where a stranger comes into your home and wreaks emotional and/or physical havoc on the members of the household. In some of those films, the 'cuckoo' is pure evil or even a bit unhinged, like Jennifer Jason Leigh's character in SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, Michael Keaton's in PACIFIC HEIGHTS or Rebecca De Mornay's in THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE. These are three of my favourite 'cuckoo-in-the-nest' films. You guys can probably think of a dozen others off the tops of your heads...!
In other films, the 'cuckoo' can actually improve the lives of the family members, or at least shake 'em up a bit, as with Nick Nolte's character in DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS. Remember that hilarious scene where his earthy and raucous sex with the married Bette Midler was broadcast to all and sundry, including her hubby Richard Dreyfuss, over the PA system...? That was pretty damned funny.
I've already let it slip which side of the coin Yasaka, the attractive ex-yakuza, is going to wind up on, but you can judge him for yourself when you see the film. Oh, and by the way, Toshio's been keeping secrets of his own from Akie. When the truth comes out, will Akie still want to be married to him...? It's still all to play for, folks, as they say in football matches. It's all to play for...
Released theatrically in the UK & Ireland / Digital HD – 5 May 2017
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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