Cherry Blossoms and Red Beans

Without any passion, Senatro (Masatoshi Nagase) prepares dorayaki day after day in his small snack bar in Tokyo. The money he makes from selling the Japanese pancakes filled with a sweet bean paste is just enough to make a living and pay off his debts. But then old Tokue (Kirin Kiki) enters his life and offers to help him prepare the dorayaki for a small salary. At first, Senatro declines, but after he tastes her bean paste, all the taste buds in his mouth explode. He realizes that Tokue has a very special talent that could help him get some momentum going in his shop. And indeed, the new Dorayaki quickly become an absolute hit. A close friendship develops between the two during the careful preparation of the paste, which is soon put to a severe test. For the old woman has a secret that could endanger not only her own future, but Senatro's as well. When this comes to light, she must make a difficult decision.

Cherry Blossoms and Red Beans is the film adaptation of Durian Sukegawa's novel of the same name. Director Naomi Kawase (Still the Water) has adequately transported the poetic original to the screen. Her film is a quiet, unagitated drama about friendship, exclusion and a world in which passion and sacrifice no longer seem to have a place. In very long takes, the filmmaker leads the two disparate protagonists to each other, allowing a very special friendship to develop as she revels in the tasty images of making the bean paste. With Senatro rediscovering his long-lost passion and Tokue finally seeing herself as part of society once again, a bond of mutual respect and affection sparks between the two.

However, with success comes envious people who want to cut that bond again. The moment Senatro finds love for his profession, he is expected to make compromises that would immediately destroy this newfound passion. And that's just so others can make a profit. And Tokue is to be ostracized as she has been so many times in her life. The story questions whether a few moments of happiness and respectful friendship are enough to change one's outlook on life enough to not let such setbacks immediately knock one down.

The whole thing is done with an extreme calmness that one must be able to relate to. The story is comparatively straightforward, so on the surface it wouldn't have taken two hours to tell. But those who aren't put off by the narrative tempo will realize that there is literally power in calmness. This is because it allows the audience to bond well with the somewhat brittle characters, see behind their facade and realize what this friendship actually means to them. This also makes the ending of the film extremely emotional and powerful. Cherry Blossoms and Red Beans may not be a film for mass audiences. But if you appreciate Japanese dramas of a particularly quiet kind and want to see moving stories told in beautiful images, this is one you shouldn't miss. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp