I WISH / KISEKI

Japan, 2011, 128 minutes, Colour.
Koki Maeda, Ohshiro Maeda.
Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda.

About eight years ago, I was very taken with a Japanese films about children who had been abandoned by their parents and who had to fend for themselves. Watching I Wish, again with children as its subject, I was inevitably reminded of Nobody Knows. So, it was a pleasure to find when checking the previous films of writer-director, Hirokazu Koreeda, that he had indeed written and directed Nobody Knows. While I think Nobody Knows is the better film, I Wish offers a lot of enjoyment for the audience.

We open with Koichi, a 10 year old, waking up and looking at the nearby volcano which was erupting. He cleans up the dust. This begins his day, breakfast with his mother and grandmother (father lives elsewhere), off to school with his friends, chatting as they walk up hill, a class and an essay on professions which they mostly get wrong. Later, he phones his younger brother, Ryu, who lives with their father. The two brothers miss each other.

There is a great deal of pleasing detail in the storytelling which, without our immediately recognizing it, permeates our experience of Japanese life in its everyday ordinariness. We feel we are there and getting to know the boys and, to a lesser extent, the adults.

A new bullet train line is about to open and Koichi hears that when trains traveling in the opposite directions pass each other, it is a magic moment to make wishes. Koichi decides to visit Ryu and that they will go with a group of young friends to see the trains passing and make their wishes.

One of the drawbacks of the films, especially for critics judging how well the screenplay is written, but less so for audiences who have surrendered to the tale, is that it meanders, some flashbacks, dreams, imaginings, diversions from the main thrust of the story. However, the two boys, Koichi with his assurance in manner and way of talking, Ryu with his engaging grin, carry us with them, especially when they meet, when they travel to watch the trains and the moments of wishing, are very engaging. Then, we discover that they are brothers in real life and have performed together as a comic group.

This is a sometimes delightful, often charming, introduction to contemporary Japanese life, off the tourist track, out in the provinces, with people that we can identify with, in circumstances that might seem mundane but which come alive with personal vitality.

1. The title of the film? Wishes and miracles? The nature of the wishes? Fulfilment?

2. A picture of Japanese life, the attention to detail, the sense of realism? South-western Japan, the island, the town, the volcano and its erupting? Homes, school, the streets, shops, trains? The variety and the musical score?

3. The jigsaw nature of the screenplay? The diversions? Dreams and flashbacks? The overall effect?

4. The focus on Koichi? Seeing everything through his eyes? His age, his getting up in the morning, looking at the volcano, his reaction to the ash, cleaning the house, relationship to his mother, grandmother and her eccentricities, breakfast, going to school, his friends, walking up the hill, their talk, at school, their teacher, the essay on professions and their making mistakes, the teacher and his focus on Koichi not having a father, his personal helping of him in the corridor? The reaction of the children? The swimming sequences? Snacks? Life at home?

5. The importance of the bullet trains in Japan, the news about the new train, excitement, the urban legend about wishes being fulfilled when trains passed each other, Koichi and his preparations, drawings?

6. Ryu, the actor being the brother of the performer Koichi, the two working together? Living with his father? His age, comparisons with Osaka, the phone calls, at home, the snacks? His talking with his father? Koichi and the phone calls to his father? The mother refusing to talk?

7. The background to the marriage, fighting, the split, the boys being divided?

8. The grandparents, the grandmother and her eccentric movements? Miming? The grandfather and his cooking, making the sponge, Koichi helping him, the taste, the discussions about the taste, his taking some for Ryu?

9. The friends at school, the teachers, the planning of the trip, selling the various possessions, buying the tickets?

10. Meeting with Ryu, the friends, the gathering, the girl wanting to be an actress? The girl wanting to draw? The bonds between the children, the trip and the teachers’ help? All together at the father’s home? The van taking them to the venue, their walking up the hill, the trains passing – the wishes? Koichi and the overview of his life, the visuals, his not making a wish?

11. The return, the girl talking to her mother and leaving to be an actress, the girl drawing, Ryu and his staying with his father?

12. The bonding of the brothers, Koichi going home, meeting his grandfather, talking with his mother?

13. The finale, his standing on the veranda, looking at the volcano – and his future?

14. The detail in the film, the comments on Japanese life, families, marriage break-ups, education, the maturity of children, their autonomy? An optimistic view of Japanese society?