Memories of Matsuko

Memories of Matsuko is a film by Tetsuya Nakashima about a woman named Matsuko Kawajiri (obviously…well I guess it could have been a man…anyway) and the key stages of her life from when she was a child to her death. The story is "told" from different perspectives including her brother Norio, an old friend/fellow convict/pornstar Megumi Sawamura (played by Asuka Kurosawa who you may have seen in A Snake of June) and Yoichi Ryu an old pupil of hers from her school-teaching days. The purpose of this journey into Matsuko’s past is to teach her nephew Shou Kawajiri (son of Norio) a thing or two about life and to help him not make the same mistakes as she did. You see, at present Shou is a nineteen/twenty year old waster whose full time occupation, besides trying to be a guitarist in a rock band, is drinking alcohol and watching porn.

But wait, I get ahead of myself. The film begins as a pastiche of modern Millennial Generation Japan with rapid visuals of a lurid techno pop-culture universe consisting of plasma screened buildings tooting the latest J-pop icons, rainbow neon lights, break beats and a cross-section of the youth, whilst a message of hopelessness exposes the true fate of all these naive faces. The message is simple and is the premise of the film; a few will realise their dreams whilst the rest of us resign ourselves to the mundane or even worse, the despairing, sweeping up the shards of our broken dreams and choking on them until our inner selves reflected in their shiny surfaces are too much covered in blood to know what we really are. This may sound a little extreme, but you’ll see if you watch this film (which you must) that there is a fine line between innocence and debauchery.

After being dumped by his girlfriend Shou is shown, through another rapid sequence of shots; stumbling around drunk, dancing in a high-tech-discotheque to what I guess to be the latest music of the conveniently named “Dream” a new J-pop sensation, only to end up in an xxx shop. The film is not subtle in its approach of illustrating the disenchantment that comes with growing up and the transition of getting there. How many girls “dream” of being the next Madonna and how many guys aspire to be the next Guns n’ Roses? The reality is that many of these girls will probably end up as pornstars and the guys will be the ones watching the porn as does our paradigm of masculine youth Shou. It seems that Japan is a dangerous place to incubate any kind of idea as you are likely to believe that it will actually mean something to someone because of the media’s constant encouragement to dream big.

Following a Disneyesque opening credit sequence we are introduced to Matsuko as a child, who we see standing on a riverbank making wishes to the sky. Then we go back to the future where Shou is being visited by his father as he brings news of Matsuko’s death. Norio doesn’t seem to be very buoyant about his sister’s life describing it as having been meaningless, which seems to strike a chord with Shou. Norio asks his son to go and clean out his aunt’s flat and in doing so he starts to learn more about Matsuko, finding an old photo of her amidst a flat that is full of garbage. Matsuko’s last days were not pretty let me tell you and are echoed in the lifestyle of her nephew. At this point we meet an interesting character called Shuji who is/was the next door neighbour of the recently deceased. He is a hardcore punk rocker with all the usual decorations from a Mohawk, to numerous piercings, tattoos from head to toe and an overall fugly presentation. He is a lively guy bordering on psychotic, making an immediate and intensely animated acquaintance of Shou. Beneath the intimidating exterior though is a friendly and sensitive guy, unfortunately he doesn’t have a large part in the film.

Matsuko’s history begins from the period in her life when she was a teacher. Seeing her here as a conscientious, caring educator it is hard to believe how far she will eventually fall. This section of the film is full of cartoonish parody and slapstick humour ranging from Matsuko’s trademark face that she pulls when in an awkward situation, a teacher with a giant wart that has one strand of hair growing out of it, a teacher whose white teeth sparkle like he were Superman each time he runs into Matsuko (who has a crush on him) and a headmaster who is basically just the typically corrupt, slimy creep. In fact if you have ever seen a J-Drama then you will notice a similar style and theme to such shows as Gokusen where a highly optimistic young female schoolteacher is put in charge of a class of misfits and delinquents. It is Matsuko’s attempt at covering for the misbehaviour of one of her students that is the initial catalyst of all her troubles to come.

Sometimes the visuals of the film are like that of The Wizard of Oz, using stark, rich colours; painting every part of the landscape (such as the grass, pathways, sky and the hills) in yellows, greens and purples. Memories of Matsuko is effectively a fairytale musical for adults as it takes all the aspects of a fairytale and makes them darker and uses surreal musical sequences and sexualises them amongst other things. Even though the tempo is constantly upbeat, energetic and vibrant, like the ritzy glamour side of Japan’s advertising industry, this is just a show but this film takes us behind the scenes to the suffering of the kind of women that make up these models that the youth idolise. The film takes the initial setups of dreams and destiny and filters them through Matsuko, causing a prism effect with fewer shades of rainbow and more of granite and coal.

The musical sequences are outrageously flamboyant and seem to be yet further parody of musicals such as Chicago and even utilise the surreal elements to invoke such ridiculousness such as takes place in the famous scene in The Big Lebowski, where “The Dude” is tripping his nuts off and falling into a vast abyss of what can only be described as S&M bowling. I think that these segments in Memories of Matsuko are also used to show how Matsuko can make the best out of the worst situation and make a fairytale out of a Nightmare, even if it only exists in her own mind; something along the lines of Lars Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark or John Schlesinger’s Billy Liar.

We learn as Matsuko’s lifestory progresses that she had a difficult relationship with her father, due large in part to the fact that he gave most of his attention to his other terminally ill daughter Kumi. There is one occasion however where her father takes her to a carnival whereat she first imitates the trademark face she pulls from an act. It is only when Matusko pulls this face that she is able to get a positive reaction from her father. It is possible that their failed relationship is yet another precursor to her bad taste in men. After breaking away from her family due to her teaching troubles and jealousy towards her ill sister, Matsuko just drifts from one abusive relationship to another going from being the girlfriend of a writer who frequently beats her up because of his own writing inadequacies, to being the other-woman of a salary-man, to becoming a showgirl in the adult industry, associating only with people who wish to take advantage of her. Her innocence isn’t as much lost as it is stolen or beaten from her but she will do anything to be free of loneliness even if it means that she gives love which is requited with cruelty.

This film is funny, sad, sexy, cute, and freaky; basically everything and more that you could possibly want from a viewing experience. The moments when it does get particularly sad are suddenly broken by flashes of unexpected behaviour, and sentiments that you know should be distressing to you become mingled with feelings of delight because of the whimsical mise-en-scene or erratic displays of character. One example of this is when Matsuko, after waiting many years for a certain someone (I will not say so as not to spoil anything) to be released from prison, comes to the gates with flowers only to be punched out by her lover whom then runs off out of the shot screaming hysterically as he cannot cope with her intense feelings of love, leaving her on the floor with a bloodied nose. This scene leaves you clueless as to whether you should laugh at the ex-con’s hilarious reaction or cry at Matsuko’s misfortune and injury. Moreover I would describe the unfair things that happen to Matsuko as tragic but the film itself isn’t tragic or depressing at all (though melancholy at times). It is an existential indy film very stylistically similar in terms of its approach to storytelling as Nakashima’s other foray into the development and maturity/immaturity of the female psyche Kamikaze Girls.

As I have mentioned, the objective of these recounted memories is to get Sho to hopefully live a more meaningful life (though I would hardly say that the life Matsuko lived was vacant and pointless) and ironically it is Megumi the pornstar who advises Shou and gives him an insight into his aunt’s activities and the kind of woman she was.

This film gives the viewer so much, that at times you feel extremely overwhelmed and almost guilty that you cannot fully assimilate and appreciate to the full extent even the lesser aspects such as the choreography (which is brilliant) and the camerawork (a gorgeous shot at the end reminded me of the sweeping, spiralling camerawork used in Irreversible). Thus multiple viewings are probably going to be a necessity but not until you’ve had at least 30 hours sleep beforehand and have time for another 30 hours afterwards as the film is draining as well as clocking in at a substantial 130 minutes.