Tsugumi
Jun Ichikawa - 1990
Panorama Entertainment Region 3 DVD
Happy Birthday, Banana!
"I sat up a little and gaze out through the saltwater spray that covered the windows at the distant line of the shore. The familiar, well-loved beach zoomed closer and closer, like a movie sped up."
from Goodbye, Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto
I first knew about Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto about fifteen years ago. I was working at a bookstore and her first novel, Kitchen, was just out in English. For some reason, word spread between coworkers that this was a novel to read. Since then, Yoshimoto, along with Haruki Murakami, has been one of my favorite contemporary Japanese novelists. Little wonder then that I made a point of seeing Jun Ichikawa's film from the Yoshimoto novel as the filmmaker is best known for his film Tony Takitani, from a short story by Murakami. I have yet to read Murakami's short story, so I don't know what changes he made, but I question Ichikawa's changes to Yoshimoto's short novel.
The basic story is about the friendship between two cousins in their late teen years. Maria, who has grown up in a small, seaside resort town, has moved to Tokyo to attend college. Tsugumi, slightly younger, is described as having been "born weak", and lives in defiance of everyone based on the knowledge that she is destined to die prematurely. Tsugumi knows which buttons to push, and expresses herself with anger and sarcasm. Tsugumi also exposes her more vulnerable side when she meets a young man, Yoichi. Most of the novel and film takes place during Maria and Tsugumi's last summer together.
