japanese movie review: shin yukiguni [新雪国]
“shin yukiguni” 新雪国, [new snow world, or new snow country] is a film by the director goto koichi.
it’s a story of a failed tokyo business owner kunio shibano sullenly played by okuda eiji. in his fifties, after his business having failed and a mountain of debt and creditors out for his blood, he sells his house, is divorced from his wife, and with what cash he can muster, decides to find a quiet place up north in the small town of tsukioka to blow his meager remaining fortune and, ultimately, to die.
upon his arrival at the sleepy town of tsukioka, he meets a local geisha, moeko, played by fueki yuko. perhaps sensing an inner sorrow that she sees herself mirrored in this failure of a man, she not only recommends a place for his lodgings but urges him to call her if he needs a drinking tableside companion.
perhaps predictably, shibano falls in love with moeko, and wishes to give all his money, about $20,000 to moeko, asking only that she would pay for his hotel stay and for some cigarettes. moeko surmises that shibano has come to tsukioka to ultimately end his life and begins her arduous task of convincing him to stay alive.
the film has some parallels to an american film “leaving las vegas” in that the protagonist basically arrives at a resort to drink himself to death, and ultimately finds love, if temporarily, with a prostitute. and while moeko is not a prostitute (she is a geisha, or geiko), she plays the role of redemptor of a man using the skills acquired as entertainer of men.
in this film we see shattered lives of two people whose imperfect past and clouded future struggle to find some meaning in life to sustain them to live instead of commiting suicide. and while shibano has nothing to offer but all that remains of his failed life, moeko offers her body and eternal devotion to save a man’s life she hardly knows. what is her motivation for this generosity and why is she so taken with saving this unextraordinary broken man? why, with her apparent potential as a top geisha and youth does she pursue so fervently to devote herself to the well being of shibano, going so fars as to offer “i will work at night, and from what i earn, you and i can live off it.”
the mystery is unraveled as her past is revealed. however, unlike shibano, moeko has decided to confront her dark past and to make the best of her new life in tsukioka. and in a way, saving shibano also may save her from her own internal guilt and sorrow.
it’s a tranquil, slow moving film centered around shibano and moeko, but it also allows the viewers the glimpse of hard life of a geisha, their trials and tribulations, showing in a meaningful way that geisha aren’t all about flowery kimono and pouring drinks for her patrons.
beautifully shot on location with many a wonderful winter scenes, it paints the small town of tsukioka as place of striking beauty as well as a place where there is much sorrow, a place where people are drawn in to end their lives, as moeko describes it; “all the snow melts away when spring comes, but my sorrow did not leave”.
the film is adult oriented (not rated, as it’s an import), but there are a few graphic scenes of nudity and blood(not gory, though). the version i watched has english, korean, and japanese subtitles. i recommend trying netflix to find this film, as it’s not in general circulation.
recommendation: 8 out of 10