Memories of Matsuko

It is a real tragicomedy! This film is about cruel facts, but under a musical comedy appearance. It is a movie that made me cry, as if I still were 15 years old. And I cried because what is told in the film can happen... And unfortunately it actually happens everywhere and everyday. It is a film that has made me believe again in the Japanese cinema. In this movie I have seen a Kenji Mizoguchi's spirit revival, because of the way it describes the life of a woman who is mistreated by everybody and whose life is irremediably ruined. Doesn't this story remember Mizoguchi's "Oyu-sama"? I also saw some Akira Kurosawa's influences, like the colorful shanty dwelling Matsuko lives in during the last years of her sad existence: aren't they close to the ones Kurosawa showed in "Dodeskaden"? According to my point of view, this is the best Japanese film of this still young 21st century.

As a matter of fact, the only film I can remember crying over is the brilliant "Babette's Feast".

"Matsuko" has a quality not unlike "Amelie", but mixed with a "Moulin Rouge" sensibility. It's part "Roger Rabbit" and part "Casablanca" -- never before have I seen stylistic pastiche used with such forethought and precision.

Some will find "Matsuko" sentimental and predictable -- but I think that doesn't matter: It's the storytelling that's important in this film and not, necessarily, the story.

"Matsuko" may not be a "great" film but, like "Babette" and "Amelie," I will want to see it again. I have a feeling that many people will react to the film in a similar fashion.

Who is Matsuko and what memories are these? Mitsuko was a born optimist, a fervent believer in human goodness. The memories, therefore, are inevitably sad as she discovers the journey along the yellow brick road can be tough haul. We discover Matsuko through her brother's quest when he hears of her death (she left home some fifteen years ago). Porn star, convict, hairdresser - these are all part of a less than glittering cv. This could easily have been an unremitting 2 hours of grimness and probably would have been were this film British. But director Tetsuya Nakashima throws everything into this including the kitchen sink, just as he did with his similarly surreal Kamikaze Girls. The result leaves you reeling as you run the gamut of emotions as the heroine's fate unravels.

The movie is really wonderful and joyful. The package is really wonderful. As the female lives from 50's up to now, director of this film manage to dissolve a lot of pop culture stuffs, like MTV, TV etc into a fancy comical world. I am sure there would be only Japanese who can create such world.

But what i admire most is he do not forget the story he want to tell. The story actually is a adaption from a original novel which depict a tragic life of a woman. The film, though have a comedy outlook, it is a typical tragic story. The director manages to find a new way to retell the story in a sense which youngster would feel related.

And the story itself is great because it tells us what is so called life. ie ridiculous, unpredictable, etc. and how a woman face her life with constant hope of simply getting better.

The story is a typical tragedy in a Greek kind of style. Though it may contain some preaching scene, but u are free to take it or leave, as the life of the woman is open to judge.

I hadn't heard of this film till it appeared on television as part of a short season of Asian films. I'm glad that I decided to watch it though as it was a delightful film which made me laugh and cry.

Shou is living alone doing nothing with his life till one day his father comes by and asks him to clear up the house of his aunt Matsuko who had been murdered. Up until then Shou had no knowledge of his aunt but as he sorts through her belongings and meets people who knew her he learns what an extraordinary life she had, some happy but much sad. It is especially sad at the end when we learn how she died after surviving many hardships.

The film has a surreal appearance that reminded me of a cross between Amalie and the TV series Pushing Daisies due to the artificially vivid colours. If you want to see something different I'd certainly recommend this charming film.