Director Yoshihiro Nakamura came to prominence with his 2009 with Fish Story, since then the prolific director has gone on to direct a further 4 features, with 3 more projects in the post-production phase. Back in 2007 the director adapted Kotaro Isaka’s novel, the unwieldy piece entitled [the] foreign duck, the native duck and coin in a god locker.
In which Nakamura plays with time and narrative to tell the story of Shiina (Gaku Hamada), a Tokyo born university student who moves to Sendai to do his studies. Upon arriving he gets involved in a plot to steal a Japanese dictionary (Kanji Garden), which grows further to include pet shop owners, pet killers, a Bhutanese neighbour and a man named Kawasaki. This is all kicked off by Shiina singing the Bob Dylan classic, blowing in the Wind, as he is unpacking, a song that has great relevance to the twisting story-line.
The foreign duck … is defined the winding nature of the narrative, composed of flashback, interpretation and re-interpretation. Meaning this film is as much about the process of storytelling as it the characters and scenario. The most important aspects of the aforementioned is the telling and retelling, which allows Eita (Nagayama) to conjure a fascinating performance, he plays two roles (the details of which are spoiler heavy) and they both feel like different people. Not many actors as young as he can successfully play two roles in a film, but he does this and provides the film with its heart. The other significant leading role is Hamada (Shiina) who has much less of a demand put on his shoulders; instead he infuses the film with a sense of fun bashfully bumbling his way through town.
Just as the film tells the story of two friends it’s about new friendships and the connections that can be made through music, a theme that also runs through his 2009 breakout hit. Kawasaki and Shiina become fast friends, whilst still maintaining the idea that something about the prior isn’t quite as it seems.
The narrative composition is an important component of the film, whereby the film comes to resemble a mystery film and the way Nakamura tells the story through multiple actors, revealing part by part in this (Haruki) Murakami styled town of eccentrics and pop culture references, not only makes this a uniquely interesting film but an intensely watchable one too. Foreign Duck, Native Duck and God in a coin locker sees Nakamura use his characters to develop a fable on what foreign means in Japanese culture, lending a more sophisticated background to the drama. The only problem as someone who doesn’t like Dylan, Blowing in the wind is over emphasized like any pop hit on Radio 1 would be, and contrary to what the station executives might believe, repetition reduces the impact.
This is a 2007 release in its native japan. If nothing else it’s a great statement, showing just how underserved the UK audience for Asian cinema is. It’s a small miracle we have labels as dedicated as third window (cineasia, master of cinema, terracotta and artificial eye) to bring unique films like this to greater attention. Support your independent labels.
Filed under: Home Release, Third Window Tagged: Bob Dylan, Drama, film review, Haruki Murakami, Japan, sendai, The foriegn duck the native duck and god in a coin locker, third window films, Tokyo, university, Yoshihiro Nakamura
