Japanese family is supposedly happy because they keep no secrets from one another, but little do they know…
HANGING GARDEN (KÛCHÛ TEIEN) (Toyoda Toshiaki, 2005)
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Tuesday, July 6, 8:30
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org
A precursor to such emotional, intense examinations of the contemporary Japanese family as Hirokazu Kore-eda’s STILL WALKING and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s TOKYO SONATA, Toshiaki Toyoda’s HANGING GARDEN is a smart, surreal look at the dark underbelly building beneath a seemingly happy family. Eriko Kyobashi (Kyôko Koizumi) has one rule for her husband, Takashi (Itsuji Itao), son, Ko (Masahiro Hirota), and daughter, Mana Kyobashi (Anne Suzuki): that there are no secrets. The family that shares together, stays together. But there are secrets galore, with Dad sleeping with the younger Mina (Sonim), soon to become Ko’s tutor; Mana frequenting the love hotel where she was conceived; and Eriko harboring thoughts of bloody murder. Based on the novel by Mitsuyo Kakuta, HANGING GARDEN is a superb character study, a cynical, funny, and at times horrific look at a dysfunctional family ready to implode at any moment. After making HANGING GARDEN, Toyoda was arrested on drug charges and reemerged four years later with THE BLOOD OF REBIRTH, which screened at the Japan Society on July 3. HANGING GARDEN is showing at the Japan Cuts festival on July 6 as part of the “Best of the Unreleased Naughties” section; director Toyoda will introduce the film and participate in a postscreening Q&A.