The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

REVIEW: How to Become Myself

Jun Ichikawa’s stunning film launched the QFT Girls on Film festival last night.  The festival is a touring programme by the Japan Foundation that promotes contemporary Japanese cinema and sometimes by women in the foreground.  The unique collection is only showing in five cinemas during February and March, so it’s a real cinematic treat that the QFT are offering.  With more than a modest Filmography in both directing and writing, Jun Ichikawa seems the perfect choice to open with, and the film is one of the most interesting studies of society I’ve seen in a long time.

BY LAURA SHEARER

www.queensfilmtheatre.com

It’s a skilfully crafted film that completely immerses you in the narrative, although not a on the edge of my seat gripping plot, the intense mode of realism and the relatable here makes Ichikawa’s work a very enjoyable watch.  Taking the little looked at topic of school, we follow the story of two girls as they find their places, both in social positioning and within family expectations.  This is a captivating tale that is presented clearly and effectively, making it very easy for anyone watching to recall those awkward teenage feelings about finding your true self and your place in society.

The feelings of the protagonist, Juri, are masterfully portrayed with the aid of a voice-over narration, but on a deeper level, the characters almost melancholy state is shown through the impressive cinematography.  Slow motion shots of leaves and branches swaying in the in the wind offers a refreshing alternative to the dear diary answer of the mainstream cinema, whilst sweeping tracking shots of the suburban surroundings position the narrative in the ordinary and entrapping everyday environment that Juri begins to struggle with.  A wonderfully inventive use of split screens during dialogue shows the distance between the characters.  An intuitive use of smaller screens within the big screen we view from show events happening from several points of view at the same time, whilst placed within a changing full screen backdrop of suburban scenery, or in some cases a simple black screen to emphasise the characters emotions.

Ichikawa’s use of the jump cut (a single rapid edit from one image to the other) is almost revolutionary.  Usually used to speed up the pace of a sequence, constant jump cuts to close-ups of the characters and mid-shots of leisurely actions provide a completely new use for the editing style.  There’s something melodic about how Ichikawa uses editing to her advantage, giving an overall sense of calm when viewing the final product, which is so well put together its style is definitely effortless.  Perfect delivery is key to the workings of Ichikawa’s film, so it’s only fair to say that this remarkable tale plays out like a haiku poem: Pleasant and satisfying.

Tags: Gown, How to become myself, Laura shearer, newspaper, QFT, qub, Queen's, queen's university, student, The Gown

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Arts + Ents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.