Jul 20

WIT Life #241: The Ravine of Goodbye

Events, Film, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life, Writers Comments Off on WIT Life #241: The Ravine of Goodbye

WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.

Last night’s Japan Cuts feature film was Tatsushi Omori’s The Ravine of Goodbye, which just received the Special Jury Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival.  This movie is based on the book by Shuichi Yoshida (who also wrote the chilling Villain, later made into a 2010 movie), and depicts the life of a couple whose next door neighbor’s young son was found murdered.  As the police begin their investigation and reporters start gathering facts for their stories, it becomes revealed that the husband was involved in a gruesome gang rape when he was a college student.  As more information is found, the deeper layers are peeled back to reveal the truth of the incident’s aftermath.

There were several scenes that were left a bit vague and I had some unanswered questions while watching, though I have a hunch they could be cleared up by reading the original source material.  I thought the movie was really engaging in the first half, but later on as the truth was being uncovered things seemed to slow down almost uncomfortably.  I found Omori’s work reminiscent of the recent Sundance miniseries “Top of the Lake,” both theme and pacing wise.  Although much of Ravine was disturbing, it is without a doubt a polarizing film that will lead to much discussion, as I heard many disparate reactions from viewers exiting the theater.  And for that alone, perhaps it is worth seeing.