By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Nobuteru Uchida
Starring: Kiki Sugino | Maho Yamada | Makiko Watanabe | Takeshi Yamamoto | Yû Koyanagi | Yûki Shinohara
Original language title: Odayaka na nichijô
Country: japan
Year: 2013
Running time: 102
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2299491/combined
Bruce says: “ODAYAKA is a psychological study regarding how people react to disaster. Inspiration for the film was drawn from real life events, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which caused over fifteen thousand deaths, many injuries and three level 7 nuclear meltdowns at a Japanese power plant. It was the fifth most powerful earthquake ever recorded and the costliest natural disaster in world history. In spite of the alarming statistics the people of Japan were curiously divided into those who worry and those who don’t. While documentary filmmakers flocked to the scene of the disaster, those behind ODAYAKA took a more observant stance. The film raises many questions such as ‘who gets to decide what is good for society and who doesn’t?’ The bottom line, however, is that everyone in Japan was psychologically damaged by the incident.
“The news of pending disaster affects people in alarmingly disparate ways. Norboru (Yû Koyanagi) announces to his wife Saeko
(Kiki Sugino), ‘I want a divorce.’ He doesn’t want to face potential danger away from the woman he loves, someone other than his wife. ‘What about Kiyomi?’ Saeko, concerned that her small daughter will grow up fatherless, asks as Norboru walks out the door. Saeko is one of the worried ones. She is concerned that the teachers at Kiyomi’s school are not taking adequate precautions to protect the children. Several of the other mothers chide her and do their best to make her look like a ridiculous alarmist. ‘Neurotic,’ they call her. She is the type that ‘inflames other people’s anxieties,’ the ringleader of the naysayers announces.
“Yukako (Yûki Shinohara) and Tatsuya (Takeshi Yamamoto), the couple who live next door to Saeko, are more relaxed but also more informed since they spend an abundance of time researching facts on their computers. They are concerned because they realize the public is not being told the truth about the severity of events. After all, the effects of Chernobyl were not realized for five to ten years after that disaster. People are totally reliant on public announcement. The government is trying to avoid panic.
Other signs are ominous. Supermarkets are emptying out rapidly. Strangely no local fish is being offered, only fish imported from foreign waters. Questions arise about radiation in spinach and other vegetables. Rumors about a rolling blackout are started. Few answers are forthcoming.
“The film is filled with small incidents that paint a profound picture. What is missing is the exposition necessary to
understand how the central characters behaved in normal times. ODAYAKA should be much a more effective film, one that gets us thinking from the characters’ points of view. That can only happen if we understand who they really are. 3.5 cats
“(ODAYAKA screened at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.)”