« NAFF 2010 | Digital Underground in the People's Republic of China | Main | NAFF 2010 | 30 Day Promise »
NAFF 2010 | A Summer Family
By Gayatri Bajpai
A Summer Family
Japan/France, 2010, 78 min
DIR: Masaki Iwana
Kamimura is an ageing dancer living in the south of France and giving lessons in the Japanese art form Butoh to students who come to his farm. Every summer it seems his much younger lover, Yuzuko, leaves to be in New York - her presence in Kamimura's household overlapping only briefly with that of his middle-aged wife, Akiko, and their daughter, Mayu. The relationship between the four seems congenial, if sometimes fragile or artificial. In this place where Kamimura celebrates free love, art, and nature, perhaps the new norm is to be infinitely accepting... Or maybe they are all part of an elaborate performance, blurring the line between reality and the staged. But as time goes on, one realizes there are undercurrents to their speech, and holes in their history together.
Though Kamimura makes art of his own most intimate moments with Yuzuko, and Akiko does not seem to moralize about her husband's relationship with another woman, they do not speak of their arrangement around Mayu, and scold her if she speaks too freely of her own crushes. Mayu is precious to them all. She is perhaps the only one who lives with rules, of whom they are protective in old-fashioned ways. Could this be why Mayu remains mostly voice, with the film showing snatches of her - her hair, her ribbons, a limb here and there - but never her face?
A Summer Family blends art and life so that the viewer realizes how closely performances are linked to her own reality, and offers a penetrating look at the most raw of human experiences behind them: loss, nakedness, and sadness.
Screening: Saturday, May 29, 9:15pm
Schema Magazine's coverage of NAFF 2010 is sponsored by the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.schemamag.ca/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1760
FILM | FILM FESTIVALS | IN-DEPTH 1.1
PEOPLE TO WATCH |
Follow us
May 28, 2010 at 4:03 PM
Comments (0)
Permalink
PEOPLE TO WATCH |
Follow us
May 28, 2010 at 4:03 PM
Comments (0)
Permalink
Recent Posts
We Couldn't Have Done it Without You!
Philippine Independence Day 2010 Events
June 5-6 | VACT's 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors HOOT CAMP
New on In-Depth! Georgia Straight's Craig Takeuchi!
New on In-Depth! Film Making Power Team Jean Yeo and Pedro Tan
2012 Olympic Mascots & Manga character | Long lost siblings
AHM | Book Launch and Reading of Henry Chow and Other Stories
Advertisement
Tags
(24)
(1)
(8)
(1)
(8)
(3)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(6)
(56)
(2)
(27)
(20)
(17)
(1)
(15)
(2)
(1)
(6)
(5)
(3)
(16)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(11)
(1)
(2)
(7)
(4)
(3)
(7)
(1)
(12)
(5)
(52)
(1)
(2)
(19)
(1)
(82)
(3)
(27)
(5)
(2)
(1)
(22)
(8)
(50)
(4)
(2)
(23)
(3)
(2)
(7)
(1)
(12)
(1)
(24)
(4)
(22)
(6)
(79)
(68)
(1)
(4)
(9)
(122)
(10)
(8)
(1)
(1)
(49)
(1)
(3)
(8)
(35)
(4)
(3)
(3)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(2)
(1)
(11)
(4)
(1)
(1)
(23)
(2)
(26)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(8)
(1)
(10)
(35)
(1)
(1)
(10)
(2)
(5)
(41)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(1)
(65)
(4)
(7)
(1)
(1)
(22)
(1)
(1)
(35)
(7)
(1)
(2)
(1)
(5)
(1)
(3)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(15)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(22)
(2)
(1)
(2)
(1)
(4)
(32)
(2)
(27)
(2)
(1)
(26)
(2)
(12)
(1)
(11)
(43)
(1)
(2)
(1)
(41)
(1)
(1)
(1)
Archives
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
Advertisement