The Mushroom Club (2005)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Steven Okazaki

Release Date:

10 November 2007 (Japan)

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot Keywords:

Radiation Victims | Disabled Person | Hiroshima | Atomic Bomb

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Keiji Nakazawa	...	Himself
Toshiko Saiki	...	Himself

Runtime:

35 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Company:

Farallon Films

Emotionally effective yet unstructured

This film is essentially a series of vignettes profiling survivors of the Hiroshima bomb and, in a few cases, their offspring, as well as the city itself. While the stories and the people themselves touch your heart, the movie lacks the direction to make it great. The filmmaker was present for a Q&A here in San Francisco tonight, during which he explained the reasoning behind his opening shots. It was a great idea that was forgotten by the end. There was one recurring image (twice) that was used to give it some structure but it seemed forced in its current form. Maybe it'll be better when the feature is done (the director is working on a longer, more comprehensive version for HBO that will include Nagasaki).