Harmonium

Takes time to build up. I love watching Asano-san do his thing. I could watch him all day. Cast perfectly imv. The husband is hysterical. The kind of movie that lingers w you long after. That says something. There are more detailed reviews by others. Let's just say I'm going to purchase the dvd, but not fm here.

A powerful family drama, very well acted, about the consequences of a high crime. It is a tragic tale

Cross-referencing the name Tadanobu Asano, while walking into the theatre at TIFF to watch his latest, tells me that his films and I have crossed paths fifteen times. He is hardly my favourite Japanese actor with names like Hara Setsuko, Chishu Ryu, Sugimura Haruko, Yu Aoi, Kase Ryo, Ayase Haruka and Mifune Toshiro‎ taking precedence, but he is arguably the best-known Japanese actor in Canada, and elsewhere outside Japan, given his role in the Thor movies and the nonsensical American version of 47 Ronin. He is a good actor nonetheless whose impassive mannerism is likely his trademark by now. These facts are coincidental given how he starred in another premier at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015 in a film called Journey To The Shore and that he is again strong and impassive at another premier at TIFF in 2016 with Harmonium (Fuchi Ni Tatsu in Japanese or 'Standing On The Edge' a name which has a literal meaning here). This is why the above is interesting because he fits his role here quite well.The film germinated in the writer/director's mind in 2006 and began to become reality three years ago. Whereas in Journey To The Shore Asano intruded upon his own family, this year in Fukada Koji's North American premier the actor does the same to a friend's family. The said man, with whom he shares a past, the attention-starved clueless and Christian wife and their daughter are average and unwanting until the arrival of the impassive new character sows the seeds of change and shatters the still. As audience members we are primed for a surprise of course and it does arrive, albeit clocking at two hours and being characteristically Japanese of a film the turn is not upon us ever too swiftly or completely.Shot mainly in Tokyo, Harmonium - which won some kind of an award at Cannes if anyone cares - is as eccentric a family drama as the bedlam that is Tokyo Sonata and, given all its coincidences, as unlikely as the aforementioned Journey To The Shore, but still leaves one interested in the here and now for itself and for other works by Fukada in the future.Before the film began rolling the director was on stage hoping the audience would still be there once the movie had ended and he would be back on stage again for Q&A and deservedly his wish came true. Nonetheless, he is Japanese and those looking for definitive conclusions may be disappointed - not to mention how the director himself claimed to be unaware of the solution to the intriguing ending.

Just a flat opinion: I enjoyed this movie. Asano is great as always. If you enjoy ambient Japanese artistic cinema I'd say give it a go.

Instead of normal english subtitles with japanese audio, amazon only offers english CC closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing. This must have been a mistake. Any sound is described in the caption. Any music is described in the caption. Any text written on screen in english is duplicated in the captions. This is extremely distracting and it constantly interrupts the dialog.This is no way to watch a foreign language film. Lousy viewing experience from amazon streaming.

HARMONIUM * / BRINK ON TO STAND [Lit] (FUCHI NI TATSU).Rating = *** (out of five stars)Director: Koji FukadaProducers: Koichiro Fukushima et al.DVD2016Director Koji Fukada (also credited as writer) offers up a creepy, dramatic tragedy about a sociopath bent on revenge by destroying (literally) a family that seems on the verge of self destruction and just needs a bit of a push to get there. About 20 years ago, two yakuza foot soldiers carried out a murder; only one took the fall (claiming he acted alone) and emerges from prison to now prey on his fellow killer; the latter has married, fathered a talented pre-teen daughter, and created a successful family manufacturing business (outside of Tokyo); under threat of telling the police what actually happened (and ruining the reputation of the business), the convict starts working in (and running) the business, moves in with the family, seduces the wife (who is starting to wise up and becoming increasingly distant from her husband), tries to kill the daughter (brain damage from his botched attack reduces her to a vegetative state), manages to elude the police, and disappears until a private detective finally discovers his whereabouts some eight years later; during this interval, the wife and husband have grown to despise each other, their brain-dead daughter, and themselves; then ... . What happens next and how the film ends is hard to tell (see below). Fukada's clever script and taut direction also builds/retains suspense using the time-honored plot device of gradually revealing what is (and has) been going on in banana-peeling fashion as well as informing the viewer ahead of the characters about things to come (very Hitchcockian!). The Director jumps into the world of fantasy at the movie's end involving visions of the sociopath amidst laundry line bed sheets on a roof top; drowning or not of most of the cast in a river; underwater shots showing the daughter fully recovering her faculties; etc. Poor on-set script rewrites or bad editing or both?! Lead actor Tadanobu Asano delivers an excellent performance playing the sociopath who is tall, menacing, and just plain scary in white and wearing a buttoned-up dress shirt. Kanji Furutachi superbly plays the unpunished killer, husband, and father. Other cast members are also well directed. There are large digital video artifacts in dark scenes and fade outs. Interior shots are often under lit. So are a few exterior ones. Cinematography includes jerky running shots. Subtitles are close enough with song lyrics translated and some closing credits translated into English and French. Highly recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.Details:Direction = 3/4 stars;Performances = 3/4 stars;Subtitles = 3/4 stars.DCP = 3 stars;Cinematography (semi-wide screen, color) = 3 stars;Lighting = 2/3 stars.* A harmonium is a small pump organ and (as seen in this film) powered by foot-operated bellows.

Japon, 2016. Sélection officielle "Un certain regard", Festival de Cannes, Prix du jury.Au-delà du synopsis, il y a toute une ambiance. Les premières notes de cet harmonium, autour duquel tout se déroule, se cristallise, se fige, et finalement explose, laissent inévitablement percevoir qu'il va se passer quelque chose. Comme une pelote de laine qui se délite, au fil du film, et comme souvent dans les films japonais, les secrets bien gardés finissent par déborder, insidieusement d'abord, puis créant des situations émotionnellement difficiles pour les protagonistes. Les vrais sentiments de chacun se montrent. Entre complicité et trahisons, handicap, sur un rythme surprenant, parfois lancinant, parfois brutal, cette histoire nous entraîne vers une mise en œuvre implacable de cet adage : "tout acte a des conséquences".Et ne pas accepter les conséquences de ses actes est dramatique, tragique.Le tout dans une ambiance de suspens étrange, insolite, qui ne nous prend jamais au dépourvu grâce à la musique qui révèle, prévient le spectateur, qui termine le film stupéfait. Il faut des heures pour se remettre de ce film.Et des mois après, on y pense encore.

I am unable to watch the Blu Ray Disc in Japan because it is for the wrong region. Since this product is being sold on Amazon Japan, the seller should have specified the region. This disc is BD Region B, DVD Region 2, so please be careful.

Très très bien

Là où le cinéma coréen aurait, sur le même sujet, réalisé un film gonflé à l’adrénaline, où les personnages torturés se seraient répandus en cris, en larmes, dans une débauche de violence le pays du soleil levant nous propose un film où les non-dits érigés en mode de vie conduisent au drame le tout sous une trompeuse apparence de sérénité. Chacun son style et couché sur le papier l’histoire semble prenante.Malheureusement le film, même pour du cinéma japonais, est inutilement lent et lorsqu’il s’accélère celui-ci donne l’impression de sauter des étapes. Le réalisateur suggère mais ne donne aucune réponse. Au fond que s’est-il réellement passé ? Qu’est devenu Yasaka ? Fukada plante le décor (une famille en déliquescence qui vit dans le mensonge et la culpabilité) et vous laisse imaginer la suite. Il ne dévoile que trop pudiquement le passé des protagonistes pour lesquels je n’ai d’ailleurs ressenti aucune empathie.Quelle est la morale à l’histoire : que les enfants doivent payer pour racheter les fautes des parents ??Je pense que ce film ne mérite pas les éloges qu’il a reçues. J’ai acheté, j’ai regardé, mais je n’ai pas aimé.

Award winning Japanese drama acted brilliantly. This is a very dark drama which slowly unfolds as a man from the past comes to stay with a family. Events unfold which not only changes the family but the personalities of the people that make it up. Can they get the answers they seal and if they get them what will they do with that information.