Memories of Matsuko (Normal Edition) (Japan Version) DVD Region 2

Memories of Matsuko does represent (on the surface of it) many aspects that can be described as basic triggers of pleasure in the average viewer, it being very colorful and quite cursory with it's descriptions and portrayals - and it does have several decades or more to cover. The path we follow shifts around dramatically from moral lifestyles into more questionable territory with great ease as a result of it's ability to leave behind what was never entirely securely established.

I would expect that not many people can deny liking at least one or more pop songs - this is because there is the possibility for any given genre to contain both good and bad, and because there's hidden wisdom in all kinds of various places. The film itself is described by Nakashima as something which is preferably defined as a comedy-drama which provokes varied reactions from the audiences within the same scenes - some laugh, some cry at the comedy within the tragedy.

Matsuko, born into a family with a disabled younger sister and a doting father, struggles hard to build relationships that give her the security she desired in her youth. Beyond her childhood is where the very large majority of the film takes place, and we see the signs of her childhood insecurities bubble to the surface. Brief flashbacks show the strong connection between childhood trauma and adult decision-making, and the subsequent cycle of continuing trauma that results from it; this is where the expected intentional lack of sympathy for a situation ultimate of her direct creation and the unexpected newfound sympathy of showing life is never quite so clear-cut, and contradictory elements come in. All her relationships are out of her emotional necessity, to avoid being alone in the world rather than any possible mutual desire or requirement of any kind. Matsuko inadvertently has selfish objectives to seek a father figure and makes bad choices on a regular basis because of this.

Nakashima's film, an adaptation from a book written by female writer Muneki Yamada, blends both male and female views on this familiar way of living - the story begins at the end and returns to Matsuko's origins to trace the path through her turbulent life. Along the way we get what is essentially a parody of the cliches both within relationship films and life itself. Yes, it's a tragedy, but it's told with great sympathy and humor, and intends to teach the audience, or remind them of the necessity to be sensitive towards those in less fortunate situations. It doesn't entirely get sentimental, and it doesn't drown itself in sorrow or pity, essentially telling the story in a comedic manner, and so this is where the bittersweet aspects come from.

Peppering the story with songs (on one level, this is a musical) and using a lot of flash techniques to make the on-screen action highly colorful, visually bold, and detailed, Nakashima does confirm his television commercial background with great ease. Beyond this generalisation of human nature, though, there lies an emotionally wrenching, touching tale. It perhaps fits preconceptions of relationship films as well as regularly managing to display great imagination, insight, and understanding. This takes the films beyond its apparent cliches and pop video approach into a much more layered, variable story that has many great aspects of interest hidden within it. Yes, the truncation is necessary and it's also one key aspect of films I've often found questionably manipulative. The film is a spiral or descent into chaos shown in reverse, farcical and touching in great measures, while exploiting one negative aspect to give a lesson in life that, although clearly not unfamiliar, is sharply told. It's great fun, on one level not particularly original, and on many others it's something quite special.

The recently issued HK DVD is a two-disc affair. Firstly, the picture and sound quality on the feature itself are just superb, the translation flawless as far as I can tell. Disc Two contains only around 60 minutes or so of additional material. The making-of feature is the longest part, with a fascinating but brief behind-the-scenes from the director's perspective of the two-month-long shoot which reveals unexpected tensions within the production, plus a couple of short interviews with Miki Nakatani (Matsuko) and Nakashima again. This disc suffers from broken English translation as you might predict as possible from an HK DVD. I would suspect the features translation, Americanised in its spelling as it is, was prepared long in advance and the features were a nice, but ill-considered late addition. This looks like a part of the unsubbed R2 Japanese DVD, and I would have happily parted with what would have been several times the money for that disc at the time of its release.

Great film, and I look forward to more from Nakashima in the future - a director that flies in the face of what I am usually looking for, but does it in such a convincing, relatively deep fashion that it makes his works worth watching. Although this doesn't clearly tap into many youth culture aspects that likely gave Kamikaze Girls its young audience, the approach in Memories of Matsuko is similar for it's visuals. With a maturation in storytelling and filmmaking on Nakashima's part, Memories of Matsuko seems to be intentionally looking for an older audience, but it can also find ways of touching anyone open to its charms.

by logboy - Twitchfilm.net