Still the Water

Sadly underrated, Kawase Naomi’s profoundly original work is quintessentially Japanese but also universal.

Nature will out: Murakami Nijirô and Yoshinaga Jun

At the start the image of a rough sea illustrates how powerful a force nature can be and we then move on to a calm beach view followed by a scene that suggests the natural presence of death as an old man kills a goat. He does so in a way that, being customary on the island, suggests an acceptance of death as an inevitable element in the circle of life, and in that respect human beings are in no different place than the animals. A character is soon heard pondering on life, on why we are born and why we die.

In accordance with the dictum that cinema is an art that should not tell but show, Still the Water uses faces and body language more than words to indicate the growing bond between two teenagers, Kaito and Kyoto, who are central figures here. We soon get to know the families of both of them. Indeed it is Kyoto’s dying mother, Isa, who leads us into scenes contemplating the nature of death and of the gods. Part of what is expressed here is the notion of something remaining that can be passed on, be it from father to son or mother to daughter. The scene of Isa happy as she faces death is the most remarkable in a film that admittedly develops sub-plots that can slightly puzzle one (this applies at times to Kaito’s concerns about his mother’s possible sexual involvement with a stranger, this arising because she had been deserted by the boy’s father). Critical reactions appear to have been coloured by concern over those scenes containing animal slaughter, but in context these seem natural to the life-style depicted. In consequence too little attention has been given to a work which, regardless of any minor reservations that can be made, is manifestly a work of art and a remarkable discovery.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Murakami Nijirô, Yoshinaga Jun, Matsuda Miyuki, Sugimoto Tetta, Watanabe Makiko, Murakami Jun, Tokita Fujio, Sakaki Hideo.

Dir Kawase Naomi, Pro Aoki Takehiko, Sawada Masa and Kawase, Screenplay Kawase Naomi, Ph Yamazaki Yutaka, Art Dir Inoue Kenji, Ed Tina Baz, Music Hasiken.

WowWow/Comme des Cinémas/Asmik Ace/ARTE France etc.-Soda Pictures.
119 mins. Japan/France. 2014. Rel: 3 July 2015. Cert. 15.