The story covers the many ceremonies held by the Sakurada family from 1945-1971. Each ceremony happens on an important date in Japanese culture, adding to the historical depth of the film. Masuo and his mother arrive from Manchuria, where they had fled, to avoid the repercussions of war. When they get back, the family hold a ceremony to mark a year since Masuo's father's death. Here, it's announced his younger brother had died, so Masuo is expected to live for two sons. Masuo and his cousins hold a baseball match, which 'Future Masuo' remembers fondly. This is where he realizes his feelings for his Aunt Setsuko. Back to present day, where Masuo and his cousin Ritsuko receive a telegram saying Terumichi (also cousin) had commited suicide. They travel to the island to find out the truth. Flashback upon flashback occurs, revealing the family secrets one by one.
Firstly, this film is tough to keep up with. The story darts back and forwards in time, and there are many different characters. Everything gets confusing, and there are a few things I don't understand even now. When it's revealed Ritsuko and Masuo are brother and sister, is Setsuko his mother? Who's son is Tadashi, the third cousin? And I thought 'The Inugami Family' was complex... These details are minor in the grand scope of the plot. The film is incredibly ambitious, with it's covering significant history of Japan and spanning 25 years.
The film deals with many subjects, including communism, incest and suicide, but there are many underlying messages as well. It's a film about family control, and an individual which has to withstand though the entirety of it, through his life. It's a film about how family ceremonies bring out the worst in people and bring up uncomfortable memories from the past. It's a film about Masuo's Oedipul love for his Aunt, and the resounding problems when an individual has no father to aspire to.
There are four or five funerals and one wedding, during the entirety of the film, so the tone is serious and often depressing. Funerals signify the loss of a loved one, as well as the passing of time, so to have four or five in a single film is purely miserable. Even the wedding is depressing.
While the story is complex and miserable, it's told flawlessly. This is my first Oshima film, and I, now, intend to see more. The pace of the film never slows down, and even if the flashbacks and story is complex, it definitely makes sense. After watching, you feel like you have seen an epic, like The Godfather, and that you have been taken on a long fantastical journey.
TO CONCLUDE
'Four Funerals and a Wedding'. Expertly told, this is a film I respect more than I love.
SCORE
78
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