Moonlight Serenade
Director: Masahiro Shinoda
Actors: Kyozo Nakatsuka, Michiko Hada, Jun Toba
Year Released: 1997
Genre: Drama
See Also: Owl's Castle, Shall We Dance?
The trouble with buying movies unseen is you never know what you'll get. I bought Moonlight Serenade based on the fact that it was directed by Masahiro Shindo, one of my favorite '60s directors. Samurai Spy, Pale Flower and Double Suicide are all incredible. I recently purchased the ninja epic Owl's Castle, one of his later films, and was equally impressed. I figured, Moonlight Serenade was made right before Owl's Castle so why shouldn't it be equally as awesome?
Why, indeed. Firstly, Moonlight Serenade is an entirely different kind of movie. It's what I call a "moist" movie, like the kind of movies Robin Williams kept making in the late-90s before he reinvented himself as the go-to creepy guy. It's very heart warming, almost cloyingly so, and probably played better to the mid-day senior citizen crowd in Japan than to an art-house samurai fan like myself.
In the film, the Kobe earthquake forms a frame for a writer recalling the days immediately following the firebombing of Kobe and the end of the war. The then-10-year-old boy and his family travel to Kyushu to intern the remains of the eldest son, who died during the war. On a ferry along the way they meet an almost Fellini-esque cast of characters, each of whom has his own pain, each of whom gets a little soliloquy and a chance to look misty-eyed. Although it has its moments, if Moonlight Serenade wasn't so obviously trying to pull my heart strings I might have enjoyed it more.
Ultimately, if you're looking for more Shinoda films than what are available in the US, it's safe to skip Moonlight Serenade, because you'd never know he was sitting in the director's chair.
Otaku Alert: Shima Iwashita, who plays the mother in Moonlight Serenade, is Masahiro Shinoda's wife.
Availability Note: Import only.
Comments