Aloha again from Honolulu and the 27th Annual Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival, the premier international film festival of the Pacific. With the festival slowing drawing to a close many of the remaining film showings have been sold out with long wait lines. Announcements were made last Thursday regarding some of the award winners for this year's festival. Awards were handed out to the following films and individuals:
Halekulani Golden Orchid for Best Feature - "The Home Song Stories" by Tony Ayres.
Halekulani Golden Orchid for Best Documentary - "Beautiful Son" by Don adn Julianne King
NETPAC Award - "Owl and the Sparrow" by Stephane Gauger
Halekulani Golden Orchid Special Mention - "Kalaupapa Heaven" by Paul Cox
Pacific Panorama Award presented by PIC - "Lahaina: Waves of Change" by Eddie Kamae
Honolulu Magazine Short Film Award - "Pretend (Nagpapanggap)" by Debbie Formoso
VOD Viewers Choice Award presented by Oceanic Time Warner Cable - "The Monkeyboy Fever" by Dane Neves
Short Film Special Mention for Animation - "I Met the Walrus" by Josh Raskin
Cause and F(X) Dream Digital Award - "Brother" by Miki Magasiva
The Audience Choice Award has yet to be announced.
South Korean director Kyung-Taek Kwak ("A Love") was presented with the Achievement in Directing Award and South Korean actor Lee Jun-Ki ("May 18") was awarded the Rising Star Award.
Kudos go out to the HIFF staff and army of volunteers for putting on yet another great and rewarding festival. Their efforts and hard work are definitely much appreciated. One of the films I was able to get into this week was Matsuoka Joji's heart-touching and poignant adaptation of Lily Franky's best selling story Tokyo Tower - Okan To Boku To Tokidoki Oton (Tokyo Tokyo - Me, My Mom and Sometimes Dad).
It was thus with much skepticism that I went in to go see the movie version of the series. I didn't think the movie could capture the same emotional impact that the drama did in just two hours and a half. Luckily, I was proven wrong and the movie was in some ways, a nice improvement over the series.
Like the movie adaptation of "Densha Otoko", most of the TV cast was replaced with bigger name actors for the big screen version.
Pretty boy actor Odagiri Jo (Azumi, Shinobi, Kamen Rider Kuuga) plays the son, Nakagawa Masaya (Ma-Chan), a fledgling illustrator and part-time radio personality who is slowly adjusting to life in the big city of Tokyo after moving there from Kyushu during High school. Legendary character actress Kiki Kirin portrays the kindly and strong willed mother, Nakagawa Eiko, who despite all the setbacks in her life (including her recent diagnosis of terminal cancer) was able to provide for her son.
While the drama series focused much of its story in Tokyo and with Masaya's struggles to care for his ailing mother after she arrives in the city for treatment, the film version explores the family's early life in Kyushu, particularly with the mother's early years. It was nice to see the young and vibrant mother during her years in Kyushu and her relationship with the young Masaya. Uchida Yayako portrays Masaya's mother as a young lady and was quite impressive and likable in her role. The child actors who portrayed Nakagawa Masaya as both a boy and adolescent were also very good in their roles.
Unlike the drama series, Odagiri models his Masaya character after flamboyant author Lily Franky himself, and portrays him with odd bohemian flair yet thankfully it doesn't get too distracting. Kiki Kirin has always been known for her comedic and somewhat goofy roles but here she is absolutely spot on perfect in her dramatic portrayal. She brings just the right amount of motherly charm necessary without overplaying it. Her gut-wrentching scenes in the hospital as she is undergoing chemotherapy are rough to watch but her scenes with Odagiri are absolutely touching and their final farewell is every bit as tearful and heartbreaking as it was in the TV series.
Another thing that was also interesting to see was the inclusion of Masaya's father portrayed by Kobayashi Kaoru whose character we learned much more about in the movie.
Director Matsuoka Joji and screenwriter Matsuo Suzuki do a superb job at bringing us another interpretation of Lily Franky's story and succeed at making it different enough from the drama series without changing much around.
With the landmark Tokyo Tower ever present in the background, "Tokyo Tower" is a somber movie that explores life and death and particularly the love shared between a mother and her child. Sometimes the movie was a bit heavy-handed but one of the most touching scenes in the movie involves Masaya reading the letter his mother left for him after her death, thanking him for all he has done. It is quite simple and traditionally Japanese in its execution but it really was effective in showing the loving relationship these two characters shared.