Summary
A nostalgic coming-of-age tale that gracefully explores identity and resilience against the backdrop of a wintry Hokkaido town.
In stark contrast to the quirks of Hiroshi Okuyama’s first film Jesus, this film is content to simply exist. What both films have in common is that they retain a child’s point of view on some occasionally melancholic subject matter, told through the wide-eyed lens of a coming-of-age narrative.
The youth in question is the shy and stuttering Takuya (Keitatsu Koshiyama), who is demonstrably unskilled at either baseball or ice hockey. When he spots fellow student and figure skater Sakura (Kiara Takanashi), he becomes captivated by her ability.
As Takuya attempts to replicate her form, coach and former figure skater Arakawa (Sōsuke Ikematsu) takes an interest in the boy. Intuiting Takuya’s potential, Arakawa not only begins to teach the lad how to skate but also spies the possibility of teaming him up with Sakura for an ice dancing championship.
Taken purely at surface level, Okuyama’s film plays right into some familiar story beats. Against the wintry backdrop of a Hokkaido town, two small children discover something about themselves, there’s a mentor with his own scars and, of course, a skill-based competition approaches. It might all seem as predictable as the changing of the seasons.
Yet, beneath the veneer of the ice, there’s much more. As Arakawa’s backstory unfolds, we also learn that he is gay. While never said outright, it’s strongly inferred that institutional attitudes towards his sexuality, not his skating skills, are what held back his career. Small-town bigotry disrupts the gentleness we’ve observed, although even this development maintains the film’s steady flow. There are no grand speeches or declarations, but the consequences are all the more cutting for their matter-of-factness.
Shot in a pillarboxed Academy ratio (with writer-director Okuyama handling photography duties as well), there is something deliberately retro about MY SUNSHINE (ぼくのお日さま). From the first shot of a baseball game amidst the first flakes of snowfall, Okuyama’s film immediately feels nostalgic. With Debussy’s “Clair De Lune” acting as a recurring motif, it’s a film of gentle grace and restraint.
Despite only being Okuyama’s second feature, it’s arguable that his collaborations with Hirokazu Kore-eda and Megumi Tsuno (on Netflix’s The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House series) have positively influenced the storytelling here. Indeed, the film comes to an end as Takuya attempts to stammer out a sentence, literally leaving words unspoken.
2024 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Hiroshi Okuyama | WRITERS: Hiroshi Okuyama | CAST: Sōsuke Ikematsu, Keitatsu Koshiyama, Kiara Nakanishi | DISTRIBUTOR: Melbourne International Film Festival | RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 8-24 August 2024 (Melbourne International Film Festival)
