Picnic
Picnic (ピクニック | 1996)
Director: Iwai Shunji
I wasn’t expecting much of this film, since I barely know the people involved here (except for Tadanobu Asano). It turns out that this movie is a visually-stimulating film, really artsy and thought-provoking, too. I just realized that Picnic’s director, Iwai Shunji, is also the director of the movies Yentown/Swallowtail Butterfly and All About Lily Chou-chou. I haven’t seen these latter two films, but since I really enjoyed watching Picnic, then I might as well check them out.
The story of Picnic is pretty straightforward: three mental asylum patients believed that the end of the world is near, so they decided to escape the institution and have a picnic and watch the world die. It’s a very short film, but what really caught my attention was the cinematography; the texture of the film gives the feeling that the audience is watching a grainy film, the extreme close-ups and the combination of long and short shots. For me it’s like watching a modern version of Kurutta Ippeiji with its setting (the asylum).
I also liked the way how insanity was portrayed in this movie. My impression is that the actors did really well in their performances even though the characters don’t look like they’re crazy at all (in fact, Tadanobu’s character, Tsumuji, seems normal if only that he doesn’t hallucinate when it rains). I was also left wondering at the middle of the film upon realizing that Christianity has a big part in this film. I am not familiar of the Buddhist or Shinto teachings, but since these deranged patients believed in the end of the world… Plus the appearance of the priest at the earlier part of the movie. I am not sure why Iwai had to use mental patients as the main characters of this film. Is it to imply that only crazy people believe in the armageddon, or is it to implicitly say that mental patients still have the capacity to decide something that they believe in?
There’s a scene in this movie that I really didn’t like (though I somehow find it amusing), and that is when Tadanobu was talking to himself (he was talking to an image of his teacher). It’s a very disgusting scene, and funny too, because his fellow patient was doing “his thing” on the other cell. Haha.
In any case, this is a very beautiful film, and I highly recommend it.
Technorati tags:
Picnic, Iwai Shunji, Chara, Tadanobu Asano
Angela Solis grew up in the Philippines before moving in to Canada in 2003. She became a Canadian in 2006. Angela is 22 years old and an alumna of University of Manitoba with a degree in Psychology. She has been blogging since 2002. She maintains a 