HANGING GARDEN (2005)
Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda
Starring: Kyoko Koizumi, Itsuji Itao, Michiyo Ookusu
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 114mins

Rating:

The Kyobashi's are a picture perfect, archetypal 2.4 family. Replete with a hard-working Dad Takashi, subservient housewife/mother Eriko, confident daughter Mana and sullen teenage son Ko - they have one family rule that they must all abide by: No Lies. Whether it be questions about conception at the dinner table (which are recounted in a blackly humourous introduction) or blazen honesty about each others personalities they are duty bound by the family bonds to tell the truth. However, as we observe this family dynamic it becomes apparent that everything from the frank stories they tell to the smiles on their faces, it's all a lie and all a cover up for the true feelings that lay hidden inside just waiting to come out.

Prior to its release, Hanging Garden was unfairly shrouded in controversy after its director, Toshiaki Toyoda, was arrested for possession of stimulants. The films distributor, Asmik Ace, shelved the film for some time fearing the negative publicity would damage the films box office. Released finally, but quietly it's a shame that the release of Hanging Garden has been so subdued, for it is quite possibly the best Japanese film of the year.

Continuing to stand out as one of the finest young Japanese directors working today, Hanging Garden marks another major achievement to add to Toyoda's already impressive canon of work. A deeply mature piece, the film manages to be disturbing, humorous, sad, emotional, romantic, violent and uplifting in a single breath. If the setup of the family unit wasn't a fascinating enough premise already, it is backed up by a supremely assured and original visual approach and an ensemble cast that truly delivers the goods.

Kyoko Koizumi (Survive Style 5+, Bayside Shakedown and Toyoda's Blue Spring) is a particular standout. Her performance, as the matriarchal lynchpin Eriko, is a revelation. Seething with insecurities that constantly threaten to shatter her perfect smile, she gives the film a bitter beating heart in dire need of healing. It's a brave, raw, naked performance on the brink of a nervous breakdown and that the gradual deconstruction of her façade as she slowly loses control is so perfectly measured is a testament not only to Toyoda's deft control of the subject matter but also Koizumi's consummate skills as one of Japan's finest female actors.

Combining Ozu's meditative observations on the family unit with Mizoguchi's fondness for long takes, Toyoda crafts a scene of huge emotional weight as Eriko and her headstrong mother Satoko (played superbly by Michiyo Ookusu) finally "talk" to each other. The camera tracks around them on a 360° track silently, unobtrusively as the many candles on Satoko's birthday cake are blown out one by one throughout the conversation. It's a stunning scene and one that shows the growth in Toyoda as a filmmaker confident to let the scene play out for all its worth in one subtle, continuous take.

Taking out the male macho posturing that became something of a signature scene from his previous material, Toyoda instead concentrates solely on the stories and the characters that inhabit the Kyobashi family. While there are scenes of protracted music, here it is less about the "badass" strutting of a charismatic lead, and more about identifying the varying moods and atmospheres surrounding our principal cast. Backed up by at times hypnotic, dizzying cinematography we are sucked into an unstable world with no doubt whatsoever that at somepoint it will all come crashing down.

With its dark subject matter and familial structure comparisons can be made linking Toyoda's Hanging Garden with Takashi Miike's dysfunctional Visitor Q. However, structure aside Hanging Garden stands as a far more mature work. Whereas Visitor Q favoured gross-out humour and depravity over its message, Toyoda has created a film that is the complete opposite.

Occasionally disturbing and blackly humourous it may be, at its core Hanging Garden is an emotionally powerful film that is devastating to watch offering far more to ponder and take with you long after the film has closed. Not as dynamic, nor as visceral as Pornostar or 9 Souls, Hanging Garden is still a fascinating film with some abrasive imagery, a step forward in Toyoda's maturity as a filmmaker Hanging Garden cements Toyoda as no longer just being one to keep an eye on, but a filmmaker of consistently essential, unmissable films.