Directing
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Goodbye, two-country towns. Shuhei and Midori, two poor siblings without parents, manage to live together in a small apartment but have long been urged by their aunt in Tokyo to move in with them. The younger sister is reluctant, the older brother gives up. A small incident occurs between them that makes them aware of the opposite sex, and their respective summers pass. And the day they leave for Tokyo is the day of a summer festival in the country town where the siblings were born and raised. The film's direction has the ability to plant the emotions and background of each of them firmly on the screen with everyday movements and straightforward dialogue. The level of acting by the actors is high. It was a summer when we felt cool with barley tea and watermelon instead of air-conditioning. The same nostalgia and vitality are present throughout the film.
A small Chinese restaurant is about to open tomorrow. Mr. Lee, an apprentice cook, is preparing the dishes and Kanematsu, a young waitress, is writing the menu by hand. Just as the preparations seem to be progressing steadily, the manager collapses. Kanematsu waits for a call from the senior waitress who has accompanied him to the hospital, and continues to write the menu silently under the broken fluorescent light. Then the phone rings, telling him that the manager will be sick tonight. And the night is over... The script and direction of the film are highly effective in making us feel the character of each of the characters and the gentle connection between them in the minimal time and space of just one night and almost only in the kitchen. The strength of the pictures in each scene is also worthy of note.
