Viewed on DVD. Costume design = six (6) stars; set decoration = four (4) stars; cinematography/lighting = two (2) stars; subtitles/translations = one (1) star. Director Hirokazu Koreeda delivers a small-scale tail of slum dwellers in Edo (before it became Tokyo) living in mostly rice-paper "row houses." This is a tight little subculture where lack of privacy provides a constant (and addictive) source of home entertainment for a community of peeping toms (both native and newly arrived). A substantial number of slum dwellers are low-level/inept samurai in the process of joining the dinosaurs. There is fine character acting all round with humorous situations and amusing one-liners NOT lost in translation due in part to facial expressions and body-language acting. Actress Rie Miyazawa's creative and skillful deployment of the art of Japanese nuance adds much to enrich the narrative. Koreeda's fixation on scatological humor quickly becomes tiresome. The Director often seems to be grasping at plot straws including his murky incorporation (more or less) into the narrative of the fantasy legend of the forty-seven Rounin. Costuming is well done. For slum dwellers, their wardrobes appear to be pretty extensive and expensive! Exteriors are mostly limited to a back lot street set you have likely seen many times before. Slum dwellings are confined to a very short portion of this standing set street (it looks like you could easily split from one end to the other!). Cinematography (semi-wide screen, color) does not help matters much, since the same camera placements are repeatedly used as if photographing a stage play rather than a movie. Interior and nocturnal scenes are usually under lit to the point that the viewer can only guess what is happening. The score is a mixed bag with a predominance of music more appropriate for settings in the Scottish Highlands than Edo! Then there is the matter of subtitles and translations. It is close to impossible to both watch the actors and read the subtitles. An either/or situation. If you are a first time viewer and consider yourself to be "reasonably" fluent in Kansai conversational Japanese, turn off the subtitles to dispatch a major source of scene disruption and eye irritation. If you feel you need subtitles, turn off the audio, and just read the subtitles like you would a book. Be always ready to hit the pause and rewind buttons on your remote, since many 10 word (or more) subtitles appear on screen for literally less than a second!). The undisciplined/amateur subtitle writer (or unedited software program output) for this movie has utterly failed to apply grammatical rules to enable the viewer to read subtitles that summarize what is being said and also watch the movie. Instead the subtitle writer/program has tried to translate EVERYTHING that is being said! Word for word. Some signs are translated. Credits are not translated which seems to be an especially disrespectful action by the film's producers directed at all those who contributed to the making of this movie! Not especially recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
Review of Hana
