Mogari no mori (2007)

Calificación de los usuarios:

6.9/10   

Director:

Naomi Kawase

Guionista:

Naomi Kawase (writer)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

23 junio 2007 (Japan)

Género:

Drama

Plot:

A caregiver at a small retirement home takes one of her patients for drive to the country, but the two wind up stranded in a forest where they embark on an exhausting and enlightening two-day journey. |

Plot Keywords:

Retirement Home | Forest | Tree | Death | Old Man

Premios:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Hauntingly beautiful

Reparto

Yoichiro Saito	...	Machiko's husband
listado alfabético del resto del reparto:
Kanako Masuda	...	Mako
Machiko Ono	...	Machiko
Shigeki Uda	...	Shigeki
Makiko Watanabe	...	Wakako

Dirigida por
Naomi Kawase

Créditos del guión (en orden alfabético)
Naomi Kawase		writer

Producida por
Christian Baute	....	associate producer
Christian Baute	....	producer
Shunji Dodo	....	associate producer
Naomi Kawase	....	producer
Hengameh Panahi	....	executive producer

Música original por
Masamichi Shigeno

Fotografía por
Hideyo Nakano

Montaje por
Tina Baz
Yuji Oshige

Diseño de producción por
Toshihiro Isomi

Dirección artística
Toshihiro Isomi

Departamento de maquillaje
Yuka Sumimoto	....	key makeup artist

Dirección de producción
Pascal Metge	....	post-production supervisor

Departamento de sonido
Shigetake Ao	....	sound
Vincent Mauduit	....	sound re-recording mixer
Rin Takada	....	boom operator
David Vranken	....	supervising sound editor

Cámara y Departamento Eléctrico
Masami Imura	....	gaffer

Compañías Productores

• Celluloid Dreams
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)
• Kumie
• Visual Arts College

Distribuidores

• CDI Films (2008) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Haut et Court (2007) (France) (theatrical)
• Kumie (2007) (Japan) (theatrical)
• NHK BS Hi-Vision (2007) (Japan) (TV)
• NHK (2007) (Japan) (TV) (original airing)
• Seven Films (2008) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Seven Films (2007) (Greece) (all media)

Otras Compañías

• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Filmcraft  post-production facilities
• Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs  funding
• Kumie  advertising

También conocida como:

La forêt de Mogari (France)
The Forest of Mogari (International: English title) (literal title)
The Mourning Forest (International: English title) (festival title)
El bosque del luto (Spain) [es]
El secreto del bosque (Argentina) [es]

Duración:

97 min

País:

France | Japan

Idioma:

Japonés

Color:

Color

Sonido:

Dolby SR

Clasificación:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | South Korea:Todo | Argentina:13 | Netherlands:AL

Locaciones de Filmación:

Nara, Japan

Compañía:

Celluloid Dreams

Hauntingly beautiful

I found The Mourning Forest a poetic and hauntingly beautiful meditation on death, old age, sadness and letting go. I haven't actively sought films that fit into the 'contemplative cinema' category at MIFF, but this is one of several I've seen so far.

The film is effectively a two-hander: Shigeki, an elderly and energetic resident of a retirement home, and Machiko, a young and inexperienced caregiver. The film focuses on their interactions and what happens when Machiko takes Shigeki for a drive on his birthday. While other characters assume fleeting roles, there is a recurring theme of death and mourning, a point that is reinforced by both the title and on-screen comments at film's end. While this may sound morbid, it is anything but.

The cinematography is stunning, capturing the beauty of wind-swept fields, overhead shots of finely-trimmed symmetrical arrays of hedges, and mountain forest scenery. There are long takes where nothing of much significance seems to transpire and yet the film remains completely engaging. The human drama is depicted as inexplicably linked to nature, a poetic theme that Japanese cinema sometimes conveys so effectively.

One slight negative: there was a little bit of unnecessary camera shake that distracted slightly. I saw The Mourning Forest when it screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival.