Times reviews I Wish

[Mark Roberts]

Spoiler alert: if you haven't seen "I Wish" you may wish to stop reading right here.

At a press screening last year in Tokyo, Kore-eda was asked: "are you more optimistic, now that you're a father?" His reply expanded on one of the main issues in the film, and he expressed hope that it could be an opportunity for viewers to reflect on the richness of the world. As he described the film story, the dissolution of the family was to be seen as the occasion for the children to have an adventure, and in that way discover a greater sense of possibility.

For me, this was a bit puzzling, for the film shows pretty clearly that the family falls apart because the father is completely self-involved in his music and doesn't care to hold down a job or think much about the concerns of his wife. She resents this, they cannot agree, and eventually she takes one of the boys and moves home to live with her parents in Kagoshima. When the father later tells the boy (during a phone call, at night), that he should think about "the world ... about music ... instead of just yourself", it is meant to be altruistic and humble, but in the context of the story it sounds an awful lot like rationalization for his own slackerdom. The boy tries to understand what "the world" means, and in the final scene, tells his brother that he didn't wish for anything when the trains passed, because "I chose the world and not our family".

So, the film seems to setting out a fairly straightforward irony about the irresponsible dad with his higher calling in music/art. The interest really lies in watching how the children try to understand this situation, with perhaps a second moment of irony when one of the boys internalizes the father's attitude without really understanding it. Yet, at the same time, Kore-eda also seems to be affirming that the father should choose "the world", the kids will sort it out, and that this is the occasion for a lovely voyage of childhood discovery on JR-Kyushu.

M




On May 13, 2012, at 10:10 AM, Sybil Thornton wrote:

> 
> Hi,
> It was screened in Scottsdale, AZ one night as one of a series of as-yet-unreleased films, Talk Cinema.
> Cheers,
> SAT
> 
> --- On Fri, 5/11/12, Michael Kerpan <mekerpan at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> From: Michael Kerpan <mekerpan at verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: Times reviews I Wish
> To: "KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu" <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
> Date: Friday, May 11, 2012, 5:41 AM
> 
> Nice to see this lovely film getting any sort of release in the US. (I wonder whether this will get screened outise NYC and LA?)
> 
> From: "Nornes, Markus" <amnornes at umich.edu>
> To: KineJapan <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu> 
> Sent: Friday, May 11, 2012 8:27 AM
> Subject: Times reviews I Wish
> 
> "The nominal story involves Koichi’s belief ― he heard it, so it must be right ― that wishes come true for those who stand in a certain spot in front of two passing trains. Marshaling some friends and coordinating with Ryunosuke, he heads off to wish for his family to be reunited, a grand adventure that is more persuasive in its emotional reverberations than in its practical details. That scarcely matters and soon becomes beside the point of Mr. Kore-eda’s gift for carefully excavating deep emotions that his characters cannot express or may not be conscious of. “I Wish” tends toward the vaporous and not just because of its volcano; but whenever its children are on screen, lighted up with joy or dimmed by hard adult truths, the film burns bright."
> 
> http://nyti.ms/JmtFe7
> 
> 
> H

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