Obon (2018) User Reviews

Certainly worth seeing

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 4 August 2020]

"Obon" is a Japanese animated short film from 2018, so actually still pretty new and fresh. Oh well, no it is not Japanese. It is a German production in fact, but is set in Japan from beginning to end of these 15 minutes and also in the Japanese language. Despite its award success, it is not really too easy to find it anywhere, especially online. So I was lucky enough to catch it on German television today where it was a bit of an appetized, an introduction to a much older documentary by Hans-Dieter Grabe, one I definitely recommend seeing as well. But now, let's not talk about that one, but talk about this quarter of an hour we have here. The writer and co-director is pretty prolific German filmmaker Andre Hörmann, but don't worry if you have never heard the name. He is not exactly mainstream, also apparently focusing on short films, so even I as a German film buff did not know the man before watching his film here. And it makes me curious about other works he has been a part of. It is good enough. What maybe makes this one the most interesting is that it is based on the life of Akiko Takakura who was really not too far away from the detonation zone when one of the two atomic bombs hit Hiroshima back in 1945. And she is still alive today I think, or at least she was back in 2018 when this film was made because otherwise 100% they would have included a brief mention that this film is in her honor or so. Maybe, if you read this review in 2021 or 2022, she will still be a live. This film is divided into two parts. The now in which Takakura is an old woman and the years back then immediately before and after the bomb hit Hiroshima. And actually also the moment when it did. We see the catastrophic impact and many lives taken that day. We don't see the many lives taken for years afterwards. But that day and what we see there is gruesome enough. It's only animation, but these corpses there are pretty violent. We also see the friend Takakura has worked with at the bank back then and how severely she is injured, yet manages to get up and walk outside with the protagonist. Really tragic in an ironic sense as well that after she repeats these words from the fortune-teller, she dies immediately afterwards. There is mroe focus on the protagonist's father and her connection with him, not only that she resembled him physically and not her beautiful mother, but also how he was pretty strict, even hit his children if he deemed it necessary. Well, parents hitting their children was certainly more common in the first half of the 20th century than it is today in the 21st century, but still. Yet, after the young woman survives the impact and makes it out alive, not knowing if she stays alive, we also see a really touching gesture from the man who is revealed to be her father that shows us how the two made their piece and how in the final scene (I just love this ceremony), he paid him her tributes. It is a good movie. Shocking and touching at the same time. I give it three stars out of five, but it is certainly closer to four here and there than to two. The animation also feels very accurate. this kinda lets me hope that Hürmann will one day make a Japan-themed full feature film. Of course, it is not anime, but more similar in terms of style to stuff like "La Maison En Petits Cubes" (yep also Japanese despite the title). Tough to find something wrong with this one here. Maybe the title "Obon" that describes a memorial service was not the very best choice, but yeah I am just grasping at straws here. it is alright too. By the way, I allso liked the way how they introduced the setting that it is the year 1945 by showing us how the father has a photo of the Japanese emperor it is I believe and he is clearly very fond of him, very nationalist. This photo breaks which is a bit of foreshadowing there and a reference to the tragedy about to happen. A really smart mov(i)e. Well-rounded effort and there is no reason for me to not recommend it. Go see it if you are lucky enough to get the chance to. Of course, you will need subtitles unless you are fluent in Japanese, even if I suppose if you really put in a lot of effort, you will understand the story otherwise too. But why would you want to. Just take the subtitles because the attention to detail that comes with them makes it an even better film overall. Definitely recommended.

reconciliation

[Kirpianuscus · 3 August 2022]

The story of Akiko Takakura , the last surviver of August 1945 in Hiroshima.

The tense relation with her father, the beauty of her mother,the childish pranks, the preocupation of father for her studies.

And August 6, 1945.

The inspired drawings for suggest the tragedy The best scene - the father, humbled, washing her hands remaining black.

The end is hommas for the lost ones and the life in contemporary Japan. Japan. A form of reconciliation with the past, beautiful crafted, poetic and precise .