SENA NAKAJIMA
MEGUMI
IPPEI OSAKO
REIKA MIYAUCHI
RUNA YASUHARA
A FILM BY JUNJI KOJIMA
Synopsis
This film is about the traditional Japanese industry of Arita-yaki porcelain and the people involved in that industry.
Yui, a 14-year-old girl, lives in Arita with her father Nobuo and grandmother Tomomi in a family of three.
Shy by nature, Yui’s only pleasure is to draw pictures of things she finds beautiful, and she draws pictures in her sketchbook at junior high school and at home when she has time, using colorful colors that she feels in her heart.
However, in the art class she takes after school, she is forced to focus on basic knowledge and techniques, and she has doubts about being able to express her own individuality. At junior high school, Yui often played with a group of four, centering on Saki.
Yui’s inability to communicate or tell jokes makes her stand out from the other three, but Saki, the leader of the group, finds Yui attractive and tries to get her attention by showing her stimulating YouTube videos and playing pranks in her art class. Yui’s father, Nobuo, works in the town of Arita delivering materials for a pottery studio. Nobuo takes a liking to a young female painter named Miki whom he meets at work and makes an aggressive approach to her.
Miki is training to paint pictures using traditional techniques on ceramics, an industry in Arita, and is planning to open a new store with designs she draws with her own young sensibility.One day, Yui happens to be on the same bus with Miki.
She sees the originality of Miki’s designs and feels sympathy with Yui herself, and comes to believe that it is right for her to draw the pictures she wants to draw.
Later, as Miki and her father grow closer, Yui’s life changes.Miki begins to visit Nobuo’s home and is influenced by Yui’s pure love of color when she comes into contact with Yui’s paintings. The two become close through their creative activities.
Meanwhile, Miki is working on a piece of artwork in order to win an award at a public exhibition, which is necessary for her to become independent as a painter.
And in that work, she is unsure whether to choose a classic design that promises to win a prize or her own unique design.
Yui recommends that he apply with a unique design that is uniquely Miki’s. However, Miki, for her own protection, submits a classic design.
Yui is shocked that Miki, whom she admired as an artist, does not stick to herself.
She also learns of the fact that Miki receives financial support from her father Nobuo, and she feels angry and betrayed that Nobuo took advantage of her.
She then makes a plan to take revenge against Miki with her junior high school friends, and they start an incident.
This leads Yui to witness the dirty side of adults one after another. Later, deprived of a world covered in vivid colors, Yui at one point rejects the idea of painting. However, as she learns of her father’s kindness and Miki’s struggles in her daily life, Yui eventually finds her own colors and chooses to move forward.
Crew
Director JUNJI KOJIMA/Director of Photography HIROSHI YASUOKA/Lighting KEN NEGISHI/Sound SHIGETAKE AO/Music SEIGEN TOKUZAWA/Producer TAKAMASA ARAKI
Title: LONGING FOR COLOR
Original Title: Akogare No Shikisai
Running time:105'
Year of Production: 2022
Genre: Drama
Country of Origin: Japan
Original Language: Japanese
Subtitled Version: English
Producer: teevee graphics
From Director
Painting pictures.
Is there any difference between appreciating the beauty of nature, such as flowers and sceneries, and appreciating the beauty of what humans have created? I think the latter, being able to read or empathize with the process of the artist’s imagination, is something that is humanly soft.
It is more profound and trustworthy than words.
The main character, Yui, meets Miki, a porcelain painter, and becomes fond of the pictures Miki draws.Yui takes the courage to show Miki the pictures she has drawn in the past.Miki compliments her very much, and she opens her heart to Miki, hoping to get to know her better.The only adult she trusts.
The western part of Saga Prefecture, where I grew up, has been famous as a place of pottery making since the Edo period.
When I was a child, there were more than a hundred pottery studios in the town, and many people made pottery for a living, creating a lively and bustling community. The thin white porcelain is characterized by finely painted patterns using red paint brushes.
I was not at all interested in the pottery at the time, and it was after I turned 40 that I became aware of the excitement of the kiln’s patterns and designs.
However, by that time, demand had shifted to simple, reasonably made pottery rather than elaborate designs, sales were declining, and both the techniques and the town were in decay. Artfully painted designs were expensive, and fewer people could afford to live well enough to choose the tableware they liked.
I think that people with a soft heart like Yui’s find it difficult to live in today’s society. People are oriented to be rational and efficient in producing profits,
and even the people are herded together based on their self-interests. People do not deeply relate to others. Yui’s father, Nobuo,
also prioritizes his own desires and engages with Yui only superficially. Children cannot choose the parents who give birth to them.
Yui is in deep loneliness.
It might be an exaggeration, but I hope that this film will make the audience think about what beauty is.
Director Junji Kojima
Filmography
2003 Armchair theory short film
2007 THE JAPANESE TRADITION: Apologies short film57th Berlin International Film Festival
2018 HOT ASHES film34th Warsaw international film festival Competition section
The works also attract attention in the overseas film festivals such as RESFEST (USA) and onedotzero (UK).He received "AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD" in RESFEST2003. with 「Armchair theory」released as one of JamFilms2.
「THE JAPANESE TRADITION:Apologies」
was exhibited in the short film section of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. It was the first time in 31 years
that Japanese films have been exhibited in this section.