Out of Ryuichi Hiroki's oeuvre, his 2013 offering Yellow Elephant (Kiiroi Zou) is one of his emotionally lighter works. It's about a happy married couple (Osamu Mukai and Aoi Miyazaki) who got married really quick. They call each other Muko and Tsuma, a wordplay on their surnames which come to mean husband and wife, respectively. A strange letter upsets the balance of their marriage and the couple face their first true relationship test.
There's a bit of magical realism in this film; Tsuma is sort of an oddball and talks to a tree behind her house once the marital rift manifests itself. There are also crayon-illustrated scenes that serve as counterpoint to the events going on.
The true test of a relationship is how it can adapt to stresses; here, communication between the two is strained almost to the breaking point - their relationship evolves and a conclusion is reached only when the two open up to each other and persevere. Much like the molting of a snake, the old, naive skin of early love is shed, revealing a tougher, more resilient relationship underneath.
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