It's time once again for Eiga Sai, where contemporary Japanese films are shown for free in cinemas throughout the Philippines for the enjoyment of all, as part of the Philippines-Japanese Friendship month. This year's theme is "savory Japan," and today I'm going to be talking about two of the films under that particular category.
A Tale of Samurai Cooking (known in Japan as Bushi no Kondate) takes us to the Edo period of Japan, in Kaga. Haru, (Aya Ueto) is a woman with a remarkable talent for cooking. She serves as the maid to a feudal concubine, the Lady Tei. One day, after displaying her considerable skill, the head of the Funaki family, whose job it is to oversee the meals eaten by the higher ranking samurai and the feudal lords, asks Haru to marry the Funaki family's son, Yasunobu. Yasunobu is a terrible cook and the Funaki patriarch believes that Haru can teach the boy a trick or two and help carry on the family line. Of course, things are far more complicated than they initially seem.
There are some obvious parallels to this movie and to a previous Eiga Sai offering, Abacus and Sword (whose review is also in this blog.) Both deal with uncommon jobs for the Bushi or Samurai and both deal with how the main characters live with it. That said, this film has a far more interesting subject matter than Abacus and Sword, and ends up way more enjoyable as a result. Numerous shots of Japanese cuisine certainly help whet the taste buds in that regard.
The movie shows how the Samurai chefs began to fuse several types of regional cooking, steps towards creating a flavor that the Japanese can call their own. Seafood dishes and meat are combined to create interesting culinary products, or to create flavors simulating other types of food. I wish that the film centered more on the food aspect of the story rather than the romance, but there is only so much time to fill. Such a decision might be suited more for a dorama instead.
Aya Ueto really carries most of the movie on her shoulders, but props have to be given to Kengo Kora, who plays Yasunobu, for bringing depth to Yasunobu's character. They build up an interesting (almost uniquely Japanese) chemistry as husband and wife for most of the film, which culminates in the final scene.
While there are plenty of interpersonal conflicts in this film, like duty vs. love, or honor vs. friendship, it is the changing times that truly test the mettle of our main characters. Feudal lords come and go, and with their deaths and successions, the balance of power reaches all the way down even to the low ranking samurai like the Funaki family.
The movie ends on a hopeful note, and while the story ends here, Yoshinobu and Haru's legacy lives on in every bite you take when you eat Japanese cuisine.
The next film takes us from feudal Japan to contemporary Tokyo in Patisserie Coin de Rue. It tells the story of Natsume (Yu Aoi) who comes to Tokyo to look for her ex-boyfriend. She ends up being a live-in employee at the patisserie where her ex used to work and in the process, she learns a lot about the magic of making delicious cakes.
Patisserie follows the tried and tested feel-good story formula of an average Joe starting from scratch and transforming from an inexperienced newbie into a promising new talent in cake making. It makes for two hours of very entertaining drama. Yu Aoi is at her best when playing adorkable roles (the spelling is intentional) and she gives Natsume all the spunk and charm she can muster, all the while spouting lines in Kagoshima-ben. The cakes and pastries are given lush visual attention, and like Samurai Cooking it's enough to make your mouth water.
Like many films in this mold, there is a ton of drama, enough to make you shed a few tears in the process. The Japanese are skilled in their use of emotional scenes, and this film is no exception. As much as Patisserie is a movie about making cakes, it's also about moving on and dealing with profound loss. Many of the characters in the film are in a rut, unable to break free of their baggage until things sort themselves out in the end.
The running time limitations do hamper a bit of the storytelling, and again I felt that more time could be given to the actual process of making food, but you really can only do so much with two hours. I also wanted to see more character interactions between food critic Tomura and Natsume, as their working relationship becomes a central point later in the film.
Like many of these 'journey through life' stories, the journey is almost always more important than the destination, and Patisserie does not disappoint. It's a treat for both fans of Yu Aoi and of these kinds of films in general.
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