The Island Closest to Heaven

Structured like a teenage fairytale, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s The Island Closest to Heaven (1984)is a dreamy coming-of-age postcard that intentionally echoes the sweeping cinematic cliches of a 1940’s Hollywood melodrama. That’s a lot to pack into one sentence…and one movie. But somehow the film’s episodic nature breezily jumps from one seaside encounter to the next without the exhaustion – or predictability – of a too familiar guided tour. Like the best vacations, it sneaks up on you with moments that feel small at the time but become special in hindsight.

Mari (played with unaffected charm by teen icon Tomoyo Harada) travels outside her comfort zone on a trip to New Caledonia where she hopes to reconnect with the memory of her late father who described the island as “heaven on earth.” Instead, she’s greeted by the flat reality of a tourist trap. But the sincerity of her search inspires various strangers to suggest alternatives, leading to plane trips, boat rides and off-road excursions that reveal a much more complex view of the world…and of herself.

While treacly at times and full of meet-cute moments, The Island Closest to Heaven makes no apologies for its innocent worldview. Every character delivers a valuable life lesson and even possible antagonists are won over by Mari’s emotional purity. Obayashi is certainly in no rush; his film lingers on the snapshots of each new chapter of the expedition like an old relative presenting a slideshow of their last vacation. But it’s a gentle reminder that paradise isn’t so much a destination as a journey…and that the people we meet along the way are responsible for the person we eventually become.

This sweet little travelogue is the latest Obayashi film released by Cult Epics who add an audio commentary, visual essay, Making Of, trailer, reversible sleeve and slipcover.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hollywood 90028

Image
While everyone praises a film that is timeless, those that are  of their time  an inevitably more interesting. And  Hollywood 90028  (1974) occupies a singular moment of L.A. cinematic history written by the early generation of UCLA film school grads; an urban desert of sleazy peep shows and dashed artistic aspirations populated by Midwest transplants looking to make it big.  Director Christina Hornisher’s obscure addition to this tragic catalog was sold as a sexed-up piece of violent exploitation (and retitled  The Hollywood Hillside Strangler  and  Twisted Throats ) but this low-budget effort is really anything but.   Mark (Christopher Augustine) is a frustrated filmmaker shooting dirty movies to pay the bills, unable to put together a highlight reel that will get him out of the celluloid gutter.  Michele (Jeannette Dilger) is on the other side of the camera, ashamed of her “performances” but lured by the easy money. ...
Read more

School in the Crosshairs

Image
A pop-music confection of psychic powers, first love, and invaders from Venus, 1981’s School in the Crosshairs is a mainline rush of anime aesthetics and pre-MTV aspirations. And if you think that’s a mouthful, wait’ll you get a look at the film itself! Director Nobuhiko Obayashi ( House ) stacks plot devices like Jenga pieces, relying on the charisma of super-producer Haruki Kadokawa’s handpicked pop princess to keep it from collapsing under its own weight. That secret ingredient is star Hiroko Yakushimaru, the cherub-faced schoolgirl who’d break out later that same year in Sailor Suit and Machine Gun . Here she plays Yuka, the most popular girl in school, who discovers her telekinetic abilities have drawn the attention of a power-hungry alien bent on enslaving her fellow students. With help from a mysterious new girl on campus, the villains drain all the fun from Daii Academy, transforming it into a fascist state devoted entirely to academics.   Based on an oft-adapted novel by ...
Read more

Terminus

Image
Road Warrior   rip-offs are legion. After the success of George Miller’s post-apocalyptic actioner, every two-bit producer with access to a stretch of desert and a box of leftover shoulder pads scrambled to cash in. In the U.S., Roger Corman unleashed   Battletruck , Charles Band gave birth to   Metalstorm   (in 3D, no less), while Italy cranked out so many copycat productions it’s a wonder the Colosseum didn’t wind up with a gun turret and a flamethrower. But France—ah, France—they just might have delivered the most bafflingly sideways homage of them all: 1987’s   Terminus . Set in a near future where a tricked-out truck must pass through hostile territory to reach a predetermined “terminus,” the story begins with its hired driver (Karen Allen) captured and killed by rival gangs. That leaves Stump (Johnny Hallyday), a mysterious ex-con, to complete the journey—accompanied by a mute 8-year-old named Princess. Their mission is guided by an AI system called Monste...
Read more