松竹チャンネル/SHOCHIKUch

• 映画

KAKEKOMI

Director: Masato HARADA (Chronicle of MyMother, Kamimaze Taxi, Climber's High)
Original Story: Hisashi INOUE (“Tokeiji Hanadayori” - Bungeishunju Ltd.)
Starring: Yo OIZUMI (The Detective Is in the Bar, KITARO and the Millennium Curse)
Erika TODA (Liar Game: The Final Stage, Goemon)
Hikari MITSUSHIMA (Love Strikes!, Villain)

■Intorduction
In old Edo, there was a temple for kakekomi - women who were seeking divorce and fleeing from their man. Entering the temple gates, all kinds of stories of the sexes begin to emerge. The Divorce Arbitrator will handle every need for restarting life.
Director Masato Harada whose previous film “Chronicle of My Mother” was received with much success has taken on his first period film based on a story that was spun by Hisashi Inoue, the great Japanese author over 11 years.
The talented and irresistible Yo Oizumi plays the main character, Shinjiro. Erika Toda plays Jogo, the iron-maker who escapes from her violent husband, and Hikari Mitsushima is cast as O-Gin, the mistress of the wealthy merchant Horikiri. These two major actresses perform kakekomi women with a tangled and unexpected past.
As the merchant Horikiri who carries a secret, Shinichi Tsutusmi brings plenty of sex-appeal. Genbei, the Divorce Arbitrator, is played by the great Kiki Kilin, an actress of renown. The cast further features an ensemble of colorful characters including Rina Uchiyama, Hana Hizuki, Midoriko Kimura, Katsumi Kiba, Misuzu Kanno and Shinji Takeda.
Not to be overlooked is the charming performance of Tsutomu Yamazaki as Bakin, the famous writer of the Edo period.
With divorce in the Edo period—which was double that of today— as a motif, a fertile human-interest entertainment takes shape through the beautifully shifting seasons.
There are encounters and partings in life. We fall in love with another and, at times, fall out of love. Sometimes relationships workout, sometimes they don't. Still, life is wonderful. This is a film that gently and sincerely observes our humanity.