Kaza-ana

(Japan, 2007, 94 mins)

DV SP

International Premiere

PROD/CAM/ED: Uchida Nobutero
SCR: Uchida Nobutero + the cast
MUS: Saito Tetsuya
Cast: Nabeyama Shinichi, Cosmosco, Yamauchi Yoko, Akaho Shimmon

Dragons & Tigers Award Nominee.

Unrequited love raged through me like a stray dog.” Uchida Nobutero’s excellent indie feature goes deep and true into the mysteries, screw-ups and self deceptions of relationships between young adults. Presented in retrospect, complete with present-day interviews with the protagonists in which they analyze where they went wrong, it tells the story of what the tabloids would call a love triangle." The callow Nabe is dating Mika and hangs out a lot with her and her girlfriend Yoko. Nabe gets it into his head that he would rather date Yoko, and so inveigles his friend Shin into hosting a party; the plan (which has one outcome Nabe didn’t foresee) is that Mika will be invited, to get her out of the way, while Nabe himself will fail to show up and will take the chance to seduce Yoko. But Nabe finds that he can only make love with Yoko when he thinks of Mika... and anyway, his lust for Yoko subsides very quickly once he’s had his way with her.

Working as his own cameraman and editor, Uchida plotted the film himself but developed the dialogue in collaboration with his actors. The result has a palpable tang of authenticity to it; many viewers will recognize these twisted emotions and sexual tensions, not to mention hormonal confusions. The story’s outcome is quite bruising (Uchida doesn’t shy away from emotional pain and worse) and it’s notable for contrasting the strength of the women with the fundamental weakness of the men.

-- Tony Rayns

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