One of the best films of 2014, "Pale Moon" is also a great specimen of contemporary Japanese cinema.
Based on the novel "Kami no Tsuki" by Mitsuyo Kakuta, the film tells the story of Rika Umezawa, a timid woman in her forties, who lives with her husband, although they do not have any children. She works part-time at a bank doing house calls to sell bonds and other banking products and, in general, lives an utterly conventional life. However, once she convinces Kozo Hirabayashi, a slightly perverted older rich man, to buy a very expensive bond, her life changes radically. The people in the bank start to appreciate her more, while she meets Hirabayashi's grandson, Kota, with whom she strikes an affair after he pursues her relentlessly, but briefly. …show more content…
The biggest asset of her performance is that she succeeds to retain the timidity of her character even in the scenes where she breaks the law, with her humble exterior breaking only when she is with her boyfriend. Her portrayal of the agony that takes over her when the events take a turn for the worse is also impressive, as is the case with the film's unexpected finale, in the sole scene where she lashes out. The awards she received from the Japanese Academy and the Tokyo International Film Festival were well deserved. Satomi Kobayashi (I Are You, You Am Me), who plays a bank supervisor, is also great in her role, portraying the strict and unwavering nature of her character in wonderful fashion. The same applies to Renji Ishibashi (Audition, Outrage), who is, once more, great in the role of the old pervert.
"Pale Moon" is a wonderful film, and one that points to the path Japanese mainstream cinema must take in order to evolve and to get over the stalemate it is currently
Based on the novel "Kami no Tsuki" by Mitsuyo Kakuta, the film tells the story of Rika Umezawa, a timid woman in her forties, who lives with her husband, although they do not have any children. She works part-time at a bank doing house calls to sell bonds and other banking products and, in general, lives an utterly conventional life. However, once she convinces Kozo Hirabayashi, a slightly perverted older rich man, to buy a very expensive bond, her life changes radically. The people in the bank start to appreciate her more, while she meets Hirabayashi's grandson, Kota, with whom she strikes an affair after he pursues her relentlessly, but briefly. …show more content…
The biggest asset of her performance is that she succeeds to retain the timidity of her character even in the scenes where she breaks the law, with her humble exterior breaking only when she is with her boyfriend. Her portrayal of the agony that takes over her when the events take a turn for the worse is also impressive, as is the case with the film's unexpected finale, in the sole scene where she lashes out. The awards she received from the Japanese Academy and the Tokyo International Film Festival were well deserved. Satomi Kobayashi (I Are You, You Am Me), who plays a bank supervisor, is also great in her role, portraying the strict and unwavering nature of her character in wonderful fashion. The same applies to Renji Ishibashi (Audition, Outrage), who is, once more, great in the role of the old pervert.
"Pale Moon" is a wonderful film, and one that points to the path Japanese mainstream cinema must take in order to evolve and to get over the stalemate it is currently