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Review

While the five stories told in the omnibus film Life Can Be So Wonderful are generally melancholy and quietly contemplative in tone, the title is not ironic. This first feature from young writer-director Osamu Minorikawa is instead a moody collection of “five cinema poems” that manages to find the grace, serenity and beauty in the minutia of everyday life — even when that minutia may be tinged with sadness. The first story is a portrait of an aging nude model and her relationship to nature. In the second tale (perhaps the most moving), an elderly alcoholic man reflects on his lifelong passion for booze and bars. The third is an erotic examination of a young woman’s ambivalent relationship with her sexual partner (and with beverages). The fourth segment — the most linear of the quintet — examines a young astronomer’s reaction to his girlfriend’s new pregnancy. The final tale, as subtly moving as the preceding four, concerns a lonely travel agent’s interactions with her protective mother. While Life is an anthology film — and though Minorikawa employs different visual styles for each of the five stories — it does not feel fragmented; the film is very much a single piece and a beautiful one. The film looks at the solitude and uncertainty we all face and finds not self-pity, but transcendence and hope. The Japanese independent film equivalent to listening to an old blues or Nick Drake album at 3 in the morning with a bottle of wine, Life is understated but unforgettable. (Japanese with English subtitles)

 -- Travis Crawford