Screenshots:
Plot:
Based on an Akutagawa Prize-winning novel by Yu Nagashima, DOG IN A SIDECAR begins with all the warning signs of that scourge of cynical cinema-goers: the coming-of-age literary adaptation. There's the dissatisfied main character at the crux of a life crisis, her voice-over narration wondering aloud how she got to that point, and the meaningful, quiet moment that sparks the flashback to that lazy, childhood summer when...her mom walked out on the family and her loser dad's foul-mouthed, cigarette-smoking younger lover moved in! Hey - what the heck's going on here?
The kind of chick flick made for audiences who don't mind the presence of the yakuza and some fart jokes, DOG IN A SIDECAR (you'll have to see the movie to understand the title) tells the story of "that summer" from the point of view of Kaoru, a ten-year-old girl living in a working-class Tokyo neighborhood with her dad (Arata Furuta), who has given up a good job to follow his dream of opening a used-car business with some borrowed mob money. Unable to deal with the pressures of family, Kaoru's tightly-wound mom walks and dad calls in the help of Yoko (the beguiling Yuko Takeuchi), his uncouth younger girlfriend, to cook meals for Kaoru and her AD/HD little brother Toru, and to empty the ashtrays when his friends come over to play mah-jongg. While Toru immediately takes to the uninvited intruder – a bribe in the form of overflowing bowls of chocolate candy helps – Kaoru is slow to warm to Yoko until their bonding over a shared difficulty in learning how to ride a bike cements the relationship. In the midst of rides through the park, shopping trips, and quiet nights at home, Yoko slowly becomes less a surrogate mother to the family than a down-to-earth, free-spirited older sister. Her bad habits open up a whole new world of fun mischief for the kids, while her openness and honesty frees them from the emotional straightjacket they'd been wrapped in by their mother. And young Kaoru learns that spiritual liberation comes not only via tearful confessions, in typical chick flick fashion, but also sometimes in the form of sweetened cola and Pac-Man.
Director Kichitaro Negishi is hardly a newcomer to the Japanese film world – he's made nearly two dozen movies, including 2005's brotherly potboiler set in the world of specialty horse-racing, WHAT THE SNOW BRINGS – yet he manages to bring a freshness to the material that defies its stereotypical origins and sentimental elements. But the biggest weapon in his arsenal, and the obvious key to his success, is Takeuchi, who must have had to move to a bigger apartment last year after winning a sackful of awards for her turn as the transformative tomboy, Yoko. She's the emotional core of the film and such a complete and enchanting creation that, like Kaoru, you'll hope she never leaves. But even though we all know that she'll only spend that one summer with the family until mom returns – Kaoru's opening narration told us so – each episode in their growing relationship together feels more and more magical until the circle is closed and we return to adult Kaoru in her dead-end job and loveless life, having retained none of the life lessons her ten-year-old self seemed to be learning. Thanks, chick flick.
trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qanZum6Nb4M
