Dear Summer Sister (Natsu no imoto, 1972)

Oshima Nagisa

Japan

95 min, color, Japanese (English subtitles)

Starring: Komatsu Hosei, Kurita Hiromi, Lily Hiromi, Koyama Akiko, Ishibashi Shoji.

Set against the backdrop of the controversial return of Okinawa to full Japanese rule (1972), Dear Summer Sister follows the somewhat strange odyssey of the "mini-skirted Tokyo teenager" S?? () and her soon-to-be stepmother as they search for a long-lost brother she has never met. Quickly, the film's simple premise evolves into an elaborate portrait of the complicated postwar relationship between Japan and Okinawa. It is important to note that although Japan itself welcomed the restoration of its authority (hereto divided between it and the US military), the Okinawans had much more mixed feelings. On one hand, the presence of US bases has led to rampant prostitution and drug trafficking, on the other, the nationalists had always resented the Japanese rule of the island group which began around 16th century CE The tensions are clearly depicted in the film as well: the singing of the Okinawan native, whose lyrics must be translated to the main-islanders, the inability of the Tokyo girl to understand even basic words, like "brother" and "affection" spoken in the native tongue, and the far more visual glimpses of the decrepit island economy (the ride through the pleasure quarters).

That not all Japanese feel unequivocally about Okinawa is also made clear with the introduction of Sakurada, the aging former soldier, who has come to expiate his past sins, presumably atrocities committed during the Pacific War against islanders. He is frequently drunk and is visibly distressed upon his visit of the war memorials. Interestingly, while he chooses to read the text aloud, the young girl refuses to succumb to tears and prefers to override his dwelling on the past with an abrupt return to the present: she begins reading the letter from her lost brother. Between his intimate knowledge of the prostitution trade and the search for a man worthy of killing him, Sakurada leads the young teenager through the seedy underbelly of the pleasure quarters where she unwittingly meets and falls for said brother.

The story, however, is not only political, although its biographical twists often are. We are also presented with the ambivalent role of the soon-to-be bride of the Judge, who has come, innocently enough, to prevent her stepdaughter from finding out the truth: that her brother had, in fact, seen the stepmother in the garden and had mistaken her for his sister. The case of mistaken identity soon acquires incestuous overtones as both daughter and stepmother fall for the brother.

In a final prolonged scene on the beach (one of the most artfully directed episodes on film), the convoluted plot is finally revealed: the Judge's illicit affair with his best friend's lover, the birth of the son, whose father is unknown, the brief affair between him and the young stepmother, and even the odd relationship between Sakurada and the Okinawan. The ending comes somewhat abruptly, with the Tokyo teenager promising to return to the quest for her brother when she is older and stronger, and with a struggle in a boat between Sakurada and the Okinawan.

For all its political relevance, Dear Summer Sister is slow and tedious, mostly because the audience is in the dark throughout most of the film about the correct relationship between the characters. The jarring camera work is especially annoying to the point of being headache inducing. New Yorker Video have also committed the unforgivable sin: white subtitles on a film that is mostly bright and frequently white. In other words, 30% of the subtitles are unreadable! Without the explosive violence common in his earlier films, Oshima's disjointed editing style leaves huge gaps in continuity that detract from enjoyment of the film as well.

The music was fine, although not brilliant. One mildly interesting feature of this film is the aspect ratio: it was nearly square!

November 16, 2001