Tokyo Film Fest: SCHOOL DAYS WITH A PIG Review
[Our thanks to ScreenAnarchy reader James Hadfield for the following review.]
Elementary school teacher Mr. Hoshi (Satoshi Tsumabuki) comes to class at the start of term with an unexpected friend in tow: a pig, which he informs his students that they will be raising over the course of the year and then eating. Under the watchful eye of the kindly school principal (Mieko Harada) and her disapproving deputy (Ren Osugi), the kids take to the task with aplomb, christening their new charge "P-Chan" and building her a sty in the school playground. But as the year wears on, many start to have doubts about whether they can turn the class pet into pork chops.
Based on a true story, Tetsu Maeda's film was a firm crowd favorite at this year's TIFF, where it won the Audience Award. You can see why: it's got a highly bankable star, cute kids, a generous slathering of sentimentality and an underlying theme that's dear to the hearts of most Japanese viewers - food.
What sets it apart from your average mainstream fluff, though, is the offbeat approach that Maeda takes to the material. School Days with a Pig develops in the way that a good class project might: rather than stick rigidly to the script, Maeda gives his cast space to work with the material, and parts of the film have a loose, semi-improvised feel to them. (In the TIFF festival program, he speaks of creating "something more than what is in the script, rather than a film without a script," which seems an apt description.)
This is most true of the classroom scenes, which are also easily the strongest parts of the movie. Maeda takes a light touch, shooting documentary-style with handheld cameras to create an immersive and surprisingly realistic atmosphere. When the kids sit down to debate the ethics of making bacon for the first time, you'd swear they weren't acting any more.
Things are helped along by Tsumabuki, an eminently likable actor whose charisma lends itself to the role of enthusiastic young schoolmaster. He maintains a convincing rapport with the students, who must be the least irritating group of screen tykes I've seen for a long time. All get to have their own distinct personality without having to resort to archetypes: even the token fat kid is believable.
Maeda is perhaps guilty of milking these scenes for more than they're worth, mind you. The multiple (!) debates about P-Chan's fate seem to get longer each time, culminating in a marathon session that probably could've been chopped by 5 minutes without losing its impact. These segments also sit uncomfortably with the rest of the film, which is more obviously directed and a whole lot less interesting. It's a shame, too, that Maeda let his good judgement desert him in the icky mid-point musical interlude and the final scene, which is more likely to have some viewers reaching for a bucket than a box of tissues.
All the same, School Days with a Pig is never less than highly watchable, a rare crowd pleaser that also gets its audience thinking. Bring on the bacon... or not.
Review by James Hadfield
