Café Lumiére (2003)
Watched January, 2012
For some time now I have been challenging myself to find and watch films that are outside what has become the popular norm. Most of these have been foreign. This one was one of the best in this genre so far.
The film is centered on a young single Japanese girl, Yoko, who is going through the motions. We find during the film that she has a friend, Hajime, who meets her often to simply make small talk and share each other’s hobbies. She is a writer researching a Taiwanese composer and Hajime helps her run down information (cd’s, maps, etc). He is completely into trains or what we would call street cars that run in and out and all around the Japanese life. In fact, one begins to feel throughout the movie that Yoko is most at home and at ease when on the train. She is 3 months pregnant by a young man she met in Taiwan whom she is unwilling to marry. This brings tension from her parents who are cast as the prototypical Japanese family of tradition. I could go on with details of what happens, but perhaps you can already sense that this is not a film with a complex or “happening” plot.
This is one of those films that demand you step into it. You have to enter the life of the characters. You can’t simply be engaged by some action filled or dramatic or funny plot. You are instead asked to listen, look, observe, sense what is going on. This is accomplished in a number of startling ways: the director uses long takes, extended silences, and a focus on mundane conversations. In one scene inside a tempura shop, the camera simply observes people coming and going for several minutes while we hear the sound of plates clattering, and food being fried. You have to stay awake not because you might miss some major plot twist or explosion, but because you have to be observant to see or hear anything.
I enjoyed this film because I went into it with some notion of what I would be getting into. The film is to honor the 100th birthday of a director who made such films (Yasujiro Ozu) by a fan of his who makes these kind of films as well (Hou Hsiao-hsien). I wish there were more of these with great filming, great acting, and the compulsion to make the viewer “see.”
As this was so new for me, I would hesitate to do my typical review of what I liked/disliked as I am not sure what I think yet. I would also cautiously recommend the film. I would challenge those who are up for it to pull themselves outside the normal “Hollywood” flick to something that is much more dependent upon our effort than the budget of the film. The delight is all in the details and how much is there for me to find rather than for me to simply get from the film’s “sermon.”
