It's all about grief here and finding back to joy in your life. Our main characters Machiko and Shigeki share something: They both lost someone they loved. "Am I still alive?" is one of the questions Shigeki asks at the beginning. Their relationship, or better, their friendship is going to give the answer to Shigeki's question. The Japanese director Kawese Naomi repeatedly uses long shots of trees or rice fields moved by wind. Maybe this observation of the nature should remind the viewer that this is how life is. Everybody will lose somebody in a lifetime, but nature carries on and so do we. Kawese doesn't use a plot as a drive for his movie, he uses a mixed atmosphere between sadness and joy, between loving and hating. Very important in "Mogari no mori" is also the sound track, that is dominated by sounds directly from nature. I had an exhausting day when watching the film, and it was hard for me to get lost in these pictures. I am interested how it works on a second viewing.
Review of The Mourning Forest
