Woman of the Photographs: A Photogenic Exploration of Self in Relation to Others
Written by BFF 2020 Ambassador, Nace DeSanders
Written and directed by Takeshi Kushida, Woman of Photographs is a drama that still manages to be rather droll. Starring Hideki Nagai, the story is about Kai, a middle-aged photographer with a phobia of women that meets and falls for Kyoko, played by Itsuki Otaki, a young instagram influencer. Both protagonists' lives are dictated by their work and as a result both the film and their love is also centered entirely around their work.
After Kai and Kyoko’s not so cute meet-cute, they go to eat dinner. In a trendy shopping complex in Azabu Juban, the clock strikes midnight and music plays: Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers. Kyoko, a former dancer, begins to dance ballet in the spacious plaza. At this moment, I desperately feared Kyoko’s character being a manic pixie dream girl, as she does present all the symptoms of such disease early on. Luckily, Kyoko is not a manic pixie dream girl. In fact, I can not think of a specific term or category to put her character in. Kyoko very much exists for this story, specifically. She is not entirely real, nor is she completely fictionalized.
Our protagonist, Kai, wears a white suit throughout the film. It looks fantastic. He is an older gentleman, and the suit really makes him seem like he is from a by-gone era. It’s perfect for his character. He lives a simple life. He works, eats, takes care of his pet, partakes in his hobby and bathes at the local bathhouse. That’s about it. The white suit lends itself to that well. It suggests a life and time with less distractions. The film, for the most part, takes place in the sleepy Tokyo neighborhood where Kai resides. It all comes together to paint a portrait of who our protagonist is from the start.The supporting lead actor, Kyoko, however, was not so well dressed, in my opinion. When not in yoga outfits, she wore a very busy patterned, pink top, with floral patterned blue capris, and red stilettos. It was just such a peculiar choice. I wish she had just stayed in her yoga outfits through the entire movie. That would have made more sense. On a positive note, her central color is red and that was often referenced in the film. She wears a red dress when she realizes that she has been physically hurting herself in the name of instagram likes. She wears the red heels, her finger and toenails are red, and her ever-present bleeding wound is, of course, red. That was an aspect of her costuming that I did like. Without giving anything away, there is a scene where the photographer, in a public bath, pours water over his head. It appears to us, the audience, as thick red blood instead, representing Kyoko. With this as an example, there were a lot of interesting stylistic choices made in this film that kept me fully engaged throughout.
The two side characters really helped bring the story to life. There was an old man whose young daughter had long passed away and whose wife left him. As well as a tragically insecure woman looking to marry. The two of them work to suggest the central themes of the story to the viewer. The man shows more positive aspects of the photography business; he uses the service to prepare a photo for a funeral in the opening of the film. Later he uses the service to digitally age his deceased daughter, allowing him to see what she may have looked like had she been given the opportunity to grow up. The woman looking to marry, on the other hand, displays a warped sense of beauty and self-worth in her desperate need to be digitally edited in a manner that more so reflects purikura (1) than a professional editing service. Her breasts are augmented, her eyes widened, her chin slimmed, her nose pinched, and she still wants more done!
In this film, the cinematographer was the MVP for sure. This film is Yu Oishi’s first credit as a cinematographer and it certainly will not be their last. The regular suburban-looking streets of residential Tokyo are filmed as if something completely new. The photographer's apartment and work studio, very realistically too full of stuff and not particularly beautiful, are shot in an engaging way that keeps the audience's eyes throughout. The camera movements are never distracting and effectively transported us to the locations of this film. The editor is also in need of a shout-out. The comedic beats that hit, did so because of the editing. The cut-aways happen at just the right time and I found myself giggling throughout the film.
My gripes with the film are small but they certainly bothered me throughout. For such a quiet movie, the sound mixer was a little overzealous throughout the film. I can understand hearing the praying mantis chew and the photos being retouched as a stylistic choice but when every footstep, clothing rustle, and arm movement is as loud as the characters speaking, it becomes extremely distracting. Perhaps this is not a comment for a film review but instead for some kind of linguistic dissertation but I found a lot of subtitling choices to be odd. There were times when direct translations were used and I felt that a more nuanced translation would have served better. There were also times when the exact opposite occurred. The translations were not direct but differed from the words spoken (I assume, in the name of clarity) when I felt, a more direct translation would have been perfect. The result is a lot of dialogue that reads as unnatural in English when that simply is not the case in Japanese. The Japanese dialogue is well-written and, in my opinion, very natural sounding throughout.
The film obviously has commentary on social media use and the way it affects our self-esteem and self-worth. However, it also has a much more interesting take on the roles men and women play to one another. Represented by the female praying mantis that eats her mate when finished, Kai suggests that this is simply the role of a partner. He suggests that now, enamored with Kyoko, it is his role to serve her. The side character looking to be married suggests something similar, in her willingness to become the person shown in her edited photos for the sake of a partner. It is very much a more exaggerated take on the traditional Japanese marriage views that persist today and I wish the film had made time to explore it further.
Woman of the Photographs is Takeshi Kushida’s debut feature film. He immediately shows promise and I am excited to see what is to come from him next. Woman of the Photographs is a thought-provoking exploration of social media’s hold of our lives, self-worth, and perhaps most importantly, what our roles are as partners. I recommend this film to anyone who likes quiet films with very specific and rather weird symbolism.
Purikura: Japanese photo-booths that automatically edit your image to make you look like a caucasian (read: white) doll