All posts tagged: memory loss

On the Road to Love Feature Image

On the Road to Love

One day, film director Ishii Tatsuya (now Tatsujo Kuya) began documenting his life, spurred by a phone call he received from Fukuda Mei, his girlfriend of two years who tells him that he’ll someday regret not filming her. When Ishii visits her home with camera in hand the day after the phone call, she had lost her memory of the two years they’d been dating. Fukada was once admitted to a psychiatric ward after becoming emotionally unstable due to the deterioration of their relationship caused by Ishii constantly recording them. What Ishii’s camera ultimately had captured was the concept of true love through the raw images of Ishii and Fukuda completely laying themselves bare without hesitation or pretension. Issues of mental health and emotional well-being have been coming to the forefront in recent years. Before then, director Ishii Tatsuya (now Tatsujo) experienced a situation in which his then girlfriend suffered a mental breakdown after their relationship soured, partly perhaps of Ishii constantly documenting them with his camera. How ironic that this footage should then become …

Eye-On-Orphans'-Blues

Orphans’ Blues

Ema exists in a world where summer seems to go on forever. Recently, she’s become rather forgetful so she always has a notebook handy, and there are all sorts of notes pasted everywhere at home as well. One day she receives a drawing of an elephant in the mail from Yan, a childhood friend from her days at an orphanage whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Hoping to see her dear friend again, Ema sets out on a journey to find Yan using the letter’s postmark as a clue. Along the way, she happens to run into Ban whom she’s known since childhood like Yan, and also makes the acquaintance of Yuri, Ban’s girlfriend. Having failed in their attempt to flee to Tahiti, Ban and Yuri slowly but surely become companions on Ema’s journey. Meanwhile, Ema’s feelings toward Yan are beginning to intensify as is her dread over her accelerating memory loss. Fukuoka born Kudo Riho decided to pursue filmmaking in her second year of high school. She had been moved by Nishi Kanako’s novel ‘Sakura’ …