Naoko Ogigami : 2017
Karera ga Honki de Amu toki wa
Eleven-year-old Tomo is pretty much left to her own devices. Unwashed dishes are piling up in the sink and supermarket onigiri are all there is to eat again. Tomo's single mother usually comes home late, and drunk. When she leaves her daughter for good one day the girl has to rely on help from her uncle, Makio, who takes in Tomo to live with him and his girlfriend Rinko. At their first meeting Tomo is flabbergasted to discover that Rinko is a transsexual. She works as a caregiver in a nursing home where Makio's mother Sayuri who suffers from dementia is living. Rinko immediately sets about taking care of Tomo; not only does she lovingly prepare meals but she also succeeds in creating a new home for the girl. A story about finding a way out of one's loneliness; in the case of Tomo and her new family the solution is a mixture of human warmth, good food and the symbolic act of knitting. In quietly concentrated images the film portrays non-normative sexuality as a natural way of life and describes the value of families that are defined not by convention but by a loving, caring environment. Naoko Ogigami's feature was winner of the Teddy Jury Award when it premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment