“To
the Ends of the Earth” is Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's
latest film and his first pure drama since 2008's “Tokyo Sonata”.
Without genre troupes to fall back on, Kurosawa does a lovely job of
portraying a young woman's story as she goes through self discovery
and has her eyes opened to another culture, whilst reporting on the
country for a famous Japanese travel program for television.
Yoko is a reporter for a Japanese variety show, and her latest
assignment sees her in the middle of Uzbekistan, which is situated in
central Asia. While reporting on the local amusement park, lakes
said to contain mythical fish, and small roadside cafes, Yoko finds
herself going through a personal crisis as she becomes more aware of
the fact that she is getting further and further away from her dream
to become a singer. Away from the cameras of the show, Yoko explores
the local landscape with more meaning and without the distractions of
home, starts to pinpoint exactly what she wants out of life, all
while becoming more familiar and accepting of a culture far different
from her own.
Despite the fact that “To the Ends of the Earth” was not a genre
exercise for Kiyoshi Kurosawa, I was still greatly looking forward to
it. The rather brief trailer for the film really caught my
attention, though I cannot say why exactly, and the fact that it was
set in Uzbekistan, a country that until now I knew nothing about, I
had the feeling that this film was going to, at the very least, be
interesting. Thankfully, it didn't disappoint and I really enjoyed
“To the Ends of the Earth” a great deal. It is quite unlike
anything Kurosawa has done before and yet, it felt like a Kurosawa
film through and through. The genesis behind this project was to
create a film to commemorate the 25th anniversary of diplomatic
relations between Japan and Uzbekistan, as well as the 70th
anniversary of the Navoi Theater in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, which was
constructed by Japanese prisoners of war after World War II.
Kurosawa was commissioned to write and direct the film, and
personally I think he has done a wonderful job of telling an actual
story, placing it within Uzbekistan, without making the whole thing a
boring travelogue of the country.
There are a number of fantastic little touches and observations about
travelling that Kurosawa makes within this film. One aspect I loved
very early on was the feeling of anxiety one can feel when
travelling, especially to a country whose language is different from
your own. The stress of trying to communicate to someone, the
irrational fear when someone attempts to talk to you and you do not
understand, trying to master the local currency and public transport,
the feeling that everyone is looking at you because you are
different, even something as simple as crossing the road in a new
place; Kiyoshi Kurosawa expertly captures these feelings and at least
for me, this is the best example on film that I can remember of this
anxiety being portrayed. Kurosawa is assisted wonderfully well by
his leading actress Atsuko Maeda, who plays Yoko, and gets across
these emotions perfectly. I could feel everything she was going
through and relate from my own past experiences travelling. I could
feel her angst and tension, especially early on. Another aspect I
loved was the difference between Yoko when she is onscreen as opposed
to off of it. When filming, Yoko has that over the top exuberance
and super bubbly personality that seems to be the norm of Japanese
television, however once the cameras are turned off she is just like
the rest of us; prone to feeling down and being totally unsure of
herself. In essence, she is playing a character when presenting the
wonders and joys of Uzbekistan. Also, it is interesting that she is
treated less like a person and more like a prop by the behind the
scenes crew of the television show. What she feels or wants is given
little thought by her crew, which further adds to the alienation she
feels in this strange new world.
However it is because of this lack of connection to her crew members
that she heads out into the streets of Uzbekistan and experiences the
“real” life and culture there. The lakes, amusement park and
food stalls she visits during production of her show are all well and
good, but do not really express what the country and its people are
like properly. I guess you could say that Kurosawa is taking a swipe
at the shallowness of these travel shows and what they portray on
them. While I would not say that Yoko delves into the culture with
any extreme depth, at least she experiences things there for herself,
even if these things scare her or do not initially make sense to her.
It is fair to say that by the end of the film, her eyes have been
opened wider to a culture outside of her own, even if she does not
fully understand it. She learns to except that while things may not
make sense within her own thoughts and beliefs, these same things can
mean a whole lot more to the locals, which is expressed in the scenes
with the goat.
My favourite scene of the film is the one that, unsurprisingly, takes
place in the Navoi Theater. It is a scene unlike any other within
the film as it has a dreamlike ambience to it, as Yoko almost
instinctively finds her way there, where she then fantasises about
singing in the theatre with the large orchestra backing her. It is a
beautiful scene, and it is where Yoko has the full realisation that
she does indeed want to still become a singer, and you get the
feeling she is going to chase that dream with more conviction once
she gets back home to Japan. I mentioned earlier that thankfully the
film wasn't just a travelogue of Uzbekistan, showing all the
“beautiful” places of the country. I guess it was inevitable for
a film that was made to celebrate said theatre, that it would show up
in the film, but I really liked the way Kurosawa included it within
the film. I also like when it was brought up by the crew's
translator to shoot a segment of the show there, it was shot down by
the director for not being something the audience would find
interesting (which is just ridiculous). This just after we hear the
heartwarming story from the Uzbek translator on how he was inspired
by the story behind the making of the theatre to dedicate his life in
helping the Japanese.
I was really impressed with Kiyoshi Kurosawa's direction within “To
the Ends of the Earth” and really felt he was at the peak of his
powers here. Together with his regular cinematographer Akiko
Ashizawa, they create a much different look than is usual for the
pair, focusing on brightly lit open spaces and landscapes, and the
very colourful textures within the markets and bazaars. I thought
the use of the colour orange was bold and worked wonderfully well,
and gave the film a unique feeling to it, and suited the landscapes
perfectly. Little subtle moments of lighting change that occur
almost subliminally, happen quite regularly within the film too to
indicate a shift in either time or mood and this is another element
that I thought was very well handled. The casting of Atsuko Maeda in
the lead role of Yoko was perfect. This is Maeda's third film for
Kurosawa after “Seventh Code” and “Before We Vanish”, but I
have to say that this is her best outing so far with the director.
Not only is she in almost every scene in the film, but she also gets
to display a huge range of emotions and moods throughout the story
and does so effortlessly. She also gets to sing in two scenes of the
film where her character really lights up and comes alive. The rest
of the cast doesn't have as much to do, but all are quite good in
their roles. Shota Sometani, (in a role much smaller than I am used
to seeing him in), plays the somewhat disinterested director of the
show, Ryo Kase is excellent as the show's cameraman, and Uzbek actor
Adiz Rajabov is the surprise standout playing the group's translator.
Overall, I was really quite impressed with “To the Ends of the
Earth” which ends up being something of a character study of Yoko,
and the way her eyes open to a new culture whilst at the same time
growing within herself. While different than anything Kiyoshi
Kurosawa has made previous, what remains the same is his great
direction and expertise behind the camera. I have the feeling that
“To the Ends of the Earth” will be one of those films that ends
up being under-seen, but if you do get the chance to see it, please
do not hesitate to do so; you will not be disappointed. I now must
patiently look forward to Kurosawa's next film, the period set
suspense thriller “Wife of a Spy”.
3.5 Stars.
