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SCMP Reporter

Starring: Junichi Okada, Rie Miyazawa, Tadanobu Asano

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda

Category: IIA (Japanese)

The hero of  Hirokazu Koreeda's  first samurai film, Hana, is a  loser - an 18th-century warrior  who spends more time bathing himself than slashing his enemies.

So much for the sort of macho heroes audiences are used to in  Japanese period masterpieces.  After all, Koreeda suggests, the idea of a hero is merely an absurd social construct that makes  little sense  when people are struggling to make ends meet.

So, it's no surprise that  Soza (Junichi Okada), a young samurai who comes to Edo (now Tokyo) to avenge the death of his  father, is constantly mocked by his cheery but  poor neighbours.  Hopeless  at swordplay, Soza  prefers wooing his beautiful, widowed neighbour (Rie Miyazawa)  or playing board games  than pursuing his  mission.

In this sense, Hana  subverts the  concept of samurai honour, which is  typically expressed in  relentless,  glorified bloodshed.  It also subverts the samurai genre: there's not  a single serious action scene in the entire movie.

The idea of revenge is a pretext rather than the subject of the   film, in which Koreeda  expresses his concerns about the dignity of  ordinary people.

The film, freed from the shackles of sentimentality and action, progresses  slowly but steadily, gliding from one gentle, humorous moment to  the next. Koreeda's camera    savours the beautiful  scenery, the cherry blossoms and, in particular, ordinary life.

Void of action and tension, there are times when the film almost comes to a standstill. But the beauty of Hana  comes from these quiet moments, which offer little drama but plenty of issues  to meditate on.

'The way of the samurai is found in death,' says Hagakure, the Book of the Samurai. But Hana  suggests the opposite: the way of the hero is found in life. Leading  a heroic life can be as simple as treating your neighbours well, forgiving your enemies, finding shelter, and putting food on the table for your family.

Hana is a demonstration of pure humanist filmmaking: portraying life's most vivid moments in the most ordinary  of days. Leading an ordinary life can be as graceful as the falling cherry blossoms when  the very essence of humanity is captured.

Hana opens today



Hana