I went because the timing happened to work out, and it looked interesting — that was about the extent of it. By the time it ended, I’d watched something heavy, but unforgettable. Another wonderful day, as always.
What’s Meguro Cinema like?
Meguro Cinema is a small cinema about a minute’s walk from Meguro Station. All right, a minute is pushing it, I know — but it really is roughly-a-minute close. This was my first visit.
Being able to book online is handy, and everything went smoothly on the day. The entrance leads down a staircase lined with posters, and I got so caught up looking at them I nearly ran late (haha). Picking up flyers, peering at this and that — I do love that sort of thing.
I showed my booking at the door, swapped it for a paper ticket, and headed in to my seat.
What struck me once I sat down was how considerate everyone in the audience was. The building itself isn’t new, but the toilets were kept spotless, and you could feel the care the staff put in. This is a place for people who come because they love films, I thought. There’s a stamp card too, so I’ll be back 🙆
What kind of film is The Sun?
The Sun is by the Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov, depicting the few days around the end of the Pacific War through the figure of Emperor Hirohito (the Showa Emperor). Hirohito is played by Issey Ogata, the Empress by Kaori Momoi, and the Grand Chamberlain by Shiro Sano. It’s apparently one of a series of works in which Sokurov turns his gaze on the powerful figures of history. I’d have liked to see the Lenin one too.
There are no grand battle scenes, no dramatic events piling up one after another. It simply follows, quietly and closely, the expressions and gestures of a man — a human being who happens to be the Emperor. That’s the kind of film it is.
Watching it on my own
When I think of Issey Ogata, I think of his one-man shows, which I go to see every year, so that image is strong in my mind. At first, watching the way he worked his mouth, I couldn’t help a little chuckle.
But the film itself is nine-tenths serious. There’s perhaps a tenth in which things soften a little — and even those gentler moments sit right alongside the tension. It isn’t the sort of mood in which you can laugh outright at all. It’s a story set around the end of the war, after all, so a weight hangs over the whole thing.
The scene that stayed with me was the Emperor alone in his laboratory. He’s working on his marine biology research, but he doesn’t seem able to lose himself in it — war and his people are always there at the back of his mind. Did it take his mind off things, even a little? No… even there, you could see the irritation surfacing.
There’s nothing flashy about the direction, yet by carefully drawing out the Emperor’s inner life, each scene comes into sharper relief. The seemingly gentle moments and the tense ones alike read as richer precisely because of the turmoil underneath. A quiet film, and yet taut from beginning to end.
In closing
Watching an indie-cinema film for the first time in a while, I was reminded all over again: yes, this is good. Beyond the weight of the film itself, Meguro Cinema was simply such a comfortable place to be, and that was part of the satisfaction.
The runs here are very short, so whenever the timing of a Tokyo trip lines up with a film I want to see, this is a cinema I’ll absolutely return to. My stamp card has only one stamp so far, after all (haha).
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