Summary
A slice of life seaside tale where not a lot happens, but constantly reminds us of size.
Ayumu Watanabe, who delivered festival favourite Children of the Sea back in 2019, returns with a new water-based anime. Where his previous film was one that cared little for linear time, and was often driven by a psychedelic sound and vision, FORTUNE FAVOURS LADY NIKUKO (漁港の肉子ちゃん) takes a much more chilled vibe.
Based on a book by Kanako Nishi (Yellow Elephant, Sakura), it’s an observational comedy/drama that follows the titular Nikuko (voiced by Shinobu Ōtake) and her daughter Kikuko (Cocomi) as they live out their days on a boat. The physically large and excessively cheerful Nikuko is easily recognisable in the small town, but Kikuko just wants to fly under the radar.
Not much happens in Watanabe’s film, although the same can’t be said for the titular Nikuko. Having made a series of bad relationship decisions, she now exists largely as a caricature, obsessed with food and puns in equal measure. Despite holding a prominent place in the title, much of the film is concerned with Kikuko’s personal relationships with fellow kids — including Ninomiya, a local boy that she develops feelings for. One of the film’s biggest micro-dramas is a stomach ache Kikuko thinks is from a bad meal, but even this is resolved quickly.
There’s a lot to love about this movie. Almost everyone can relate to the angst of being embarrassed by the parents in public, or feeling like they came from an entirely different family. The carefree, waterfront setting is a idillic playground, filled with familiar sparks of enjoyment. There’s the almost obligatory summer festival sequence, and at various time characters sit around sharing the communal joy of food. Indeed, some of the running gags are around ‘meat’ — a combination of the film’s constant puns, the fact that the character ‘肉’ (meat) is in Nikuko’s name and, unfortunately, because of her size.
Which is where some of the humour becomes very one-note, a constant series of jokes that aren’t just body-shaming but insulting. When this aspect of her character is peeled away in a genuinely touching flashback sequence, we get a glimpse of the nuance possible. Yet constant references to Nikuko’s size, her binge eating, frequent comparisons to Totoro or her comparatively enormous girth are excessive — and really need to be called out here.
It’s a shame, because the film is otherwise gorgeously animated. The opening sequence is told in an inventively exaggerated style, with all the men in Nikuko’s past presented as faceless shadows. With the team at Studio 4°C, Watanabe focuses on the little things: bugs, lizards, the sunrise or a grumpy cat. There’s a place overlooking the harbour that Kikuko shares with Ninomiya: coupled with the constant sound of crickets and some beautiful lighting, this could just as happily be lensed for a Hirokazu Kore-eda film.
With FORTUNE FAVOURS LADY NIKUKO, Watanabe presents something that is more straightforward and universally accessible than Children of the Sea. It’s a shame that the caricature issues mar what is an otherwise delightful slice-of-life film that gets to the heart of that feeling of youthful displacement.
FORTUNE FAVOURS LADY NIKUKO is reviewed as part of our coverage of Fantasia Festival 2021.
2021 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Ayumu Watanabe | WRITER: Satomi Ooshima | CAST: Cocomi, Natsuki Hanae, Shinobu Otake | DISTRIBUTOR: Asmik Ace (JPN), Fantasia Festival 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 5-25 August 2021 (Fantasia 2021)
