Summary
Both personal and universal in its themes, this film for the downtrodden is an intimate character study of the people who impact our lives and learning to shine in one’s own spotlight.
Some of us walked straight out of high school and never looked back. It was so long ago and it’s a struggle to remember people’s names let alone their impact on you. In Takuya Uchiyama’s latest project, he looks at those elements that linger, whether you want them to or not, and the often uphill struggle to become the people we try to be later in life.
Developed in collaboration with actor Gaku Hosokawa, the film follows Yuji (Kisetsu Fujiwara), a struggling actor who works a mundane job in a box factory and lives in a tiny apartment with his ex-girlfriend (Minori Hagiwara). His fellow actor pal (Nijiro Murakami) offers him a role in a play he is working on, having written the part specifically with him in mind.
After a chance encounter with an old high school friend, he’s told that their mutual pal Sasaki (Hosokawa) visited the recent reunion. The incident gets Yuji reflecting on the titular Sasaki, an often chaotic and troubled teen who inexplicably drew people in around him. Yuji is forced to confront Sasaki’s influence on him, and even see where Sasaki’s path has led him over the years.
Loosely based on one of Hosokawa’s school colleagues, it’s possible every viewer knew a Sasaki at some stage. Perhaps not the kind that would stand on desks naked while his schoolmates chanted his name, but there was always a Sasaki type flame you wanted to be illuminated by through proximity. “You’re taking after him,” comments one of Yuji’s old friends.
As a kind of coming of age film for someone in their late 20s, SASAKI ON MY MIND (佐々木、イン、マイマイン) is partly about realising what has been holding you back and perhaps why you have failed to succeed. It takes a major turning point for Yuji to recognise his own self-sabotage. As the director of the play says, “You have to shine in your own spotlight.”
Following his award-winning debut Vanitas, director Uchiyama has honed his craft through music videos (such as King Gnu’s ‘The Hole‘) and short commercial work. Here he uses them to intimate effect, punctuating the main narrative with non-linear flashbacks to various points in time. It’s particularly effective in the last act, where a series of skips through the chronology show how time has caught up with both Yuji and Sasaki.
“I think this movie is a movie for losers,” said Uchiyama in an interview with Tokion last year. “I want to tell people it’s okay if they’re uncool or awkward, and encourage them to want to live another day.” Which is where we are left, a film that’s quietly affirming and a reminder that it’s never too late to be true to yourself.
SASAKI IN MY MIND is reviewed as part of our coverage of JAPAN CUTS 2021.
2020 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Takuya Uchiyama | WRITERS: Takuya Uchiyama | CAST: Kisetsu Fujiwara, Gaku Hosokawa, Minori Hagiwara | DISTRIBUTOR: Third Window Films, JAPAN CUTS 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 118 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 22 August – 2 September 2021 (JAPAN CUTS 2021)
