JFF Review: SHINSAN: A SERENADE IN A COALMINE TOWN (A.K.A. FORGET ME NOT)
SHINSAN: A SERENADE IN A COALMINE TOWN is a film that proves that when it comes to bittersweet melodramas, nobody makes them like the Japanese filmmakers do. Touching without being over-sentimental, this gentle film may not make every viewer cry, but it will surely take a hardened soul not to be deeply affected by it.
SHINSAN is full of nostalgia, and gives audiences more than passing glimpses into the lives of the Japanese people in the 1960s. Set in a small coalmine town, this story centers around the life, love and loss of a boy called Shinichi (nicknamed Shin-san), who lives in a poor family with his miner uncle, aunt and young sister. When he meets a newly returned resident, the beautiful single mother Michiyo (played by Koyuki), he finds kindness in her and very quickly becomes emotionally attached to her. Young actor Ren Kobayashi gives a stunning performance as the young Shin-san, a character with the maturity well beyond his age, yet deep inside remains very much a child. He has had to experience things that no child should have to go through, and many of the scenes depicting his hardship are emotionally powerful and at time challengingly so.
The scenes that invoke the strongest feelings, however, are the ones that show how Shin-san imagines becoming 'Iron Man 28' (Tetsujin 28 or Gigantor, a giant robot popular in the 1950 and 60s), and by doing so, gets the strength to face all his difficulties and pains. For a child who does not receive the love and care that he so desperately needs, this is unfortunately the only way he can seek comfort when his life gets tough. When further changes in the circumstances of his life make it necessary for him to take on the role of an adult, his childhood ends way too prematurely. His feeling towards Michiyo, however, is one thing that remains unchanged over time.
SHINSAN: A SERENADE IN A COALMINE TOWN feels like very personal film, which is probably the result of it being set in director Hideyuki Hirayama's hometown of Fukuoka. If it were not for the fact that the story was adapted from a novel by Tomoki Tsujiuchi, it would be easy to mistake the film as being autobiographical. This film deservedly won the Audience Award and Best Cinematography at the 2010 Kinotayo Film Festival in France. Reminiscent of ALWAYS - SUNSET ON THE THIRD STREET but with less sentimentality, SHINSAN is a beautiful film with real characters and true emotions, both of which are sadly missing in many of our films today.
SHINSAN: A SERENADE IN A COALMINE TOWN was seen at this year's Japanese Film Festival in Australia.
