All posts tagged: mental health

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 …

The Sower Feature Image

The Sower

Mitsuo suffered debilitating mental trauma after volunteering to clear out the debris in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. After spending three years at a psychiatric care facility, he is released and warmly welcomed back by his younger brother Yuta, his wife Yoko, and their daughters Chie and Itsuki who has down syndrome. However, the sweet family reunion is shattered by a tragedy when the two girls are left in Mitsuo’s care during which Itsuki accidentally dies. Thus begins a spiral of blame and guilt which pits family members against one another with Mitsuo and Chie caught in the middle. The debut independent feature by Takeuchi Yosuke throws into relief many of Japan’s unspoken attitudes toward the mentally ill and mentally disabled. In fact, Takeuchi decided to make the movie in response to how he saw his own niece, Takeuchi Ichika who plays Itsuki in the movie, was being treated both within closer circles and society at large. Therefore Takeuchi makes sure those those unspoken attitudes are heard loud and clear, …