"One Thousand and One Nights" is overwhelmed by Yuko Tanaka [Ichiro Enokido's Movie Akasatana Vol.11]

``A Thousand Nights, One Night'' (22) was overwhelmingly Yuko Tanaka's movie. Just seeing Yuko Tanaka standing alone in the desolate scenery of a port town is enough to convince me. She is Tomiko, a woman who continues to wait for her husband, who disappeared 30 years ago. I'm already on the verge of old age. My memory has become vague and I can no longer remember my husband's face very well. When we were living together, I happened to record an innocent conversation on a cassette tape, and I listen to it over and over again. Her husband may have been abducted by North Korea, or he may be living as a different person in some city.

That being said, I think it's an amazing setting. According to the movie's press materials, 80,000 missing persons are reported to police nationwide each year, so maybe this is a much more common story than I thought. However, it's still an amazing setting. Pure literature may be based on the power of words, and documentaries may be based on the weight of facts, but above all, commercial films are made to have persuasive power. We need a super actor who has the power to draw us into the world.

The filming location is Sado. Director Naoki Kubota had planned to set the story on an island from the planning stage. The sea of ​​Niigata is full of suspicious ships and debris from the continent. The ``waiting woman'' is thinking about the arrival of the ship. ``Because there is one entrance and exit for people, I had the image that the main character stares at that place every day, waiting for his beloved to return,'' (Director Kubota). No, to be more precise, I think she is a woman whose life has become ``a life of thinking about the arrival of the ship.''

One thing that comes to mind is Beckett's `` Waiting for Godot .'' It's a play where nothing happens, where as you wait, the waiting becomes a self-objective, and the waiting becomes everything. The meaning of waiting disappears. I want you to think about it. If I waited 30 years and my husband came back, would I be able to start over from where I was 30 years ago? Tomiko, played by Yuko Tanaka, is a mysterious woman. He is extremely stubborn and refuses to retreat from his ``waiting, hanging in the balance'' life. It's no longer pure, single-minded love. In a sense, it's a very conceptual existence. Even if I explain the outline like this, the reality seems to be lacking.

However, Tomiko will be played by Yuko Tanaka. That persuasive power! Ah, I realized that this person really exists, so much so that I couldn't even make a sound. My heart was filled just watching Yuko Tanaka in ``A Thousand Nights, One Night.'' So, I would like to leave aside the story and dialogue for the time being and ask everyone to watch Yuko Tanaka.

“A Thousand Nights, One Night” (C) 2022 Movie “A Thousand Nights, One Night” Production Committee

As for the actor, Duncan is good. I know Duncan personally, and I'm well aware of his career including Takeshi's films, but he was outstanding as a no-good guy who had a sideways crush on Tomiko in ``A Thousand and One Nights''. I'm glad he became an actor who could play such a tasteful bad guy. When it comes to bad men in Japanese movies, it would be too patronizing to say that he is comparable to Johnny Okura in `` Distant Thunder '' (1981). I mean, I'm saying it's the best. I felt so lonely and lonely that I wanted to cry. Now in his 60s, he will no doubt continue to improve as a supporting player.

I would like to write about the ``missing persons'' and ``disappearances'' that are the driving force of this film. In the story, what happened to her husband is not depicted at all. He may have died in a marine accident, or he may have grown tired of living with Tomiko. There are no motifs that hint at the reason. It might be something like that. The origin may have been caused by a demon. He may have intended to leave the community's gravitational pull and return at any time. I intended to go back, but I couldn't and ended up staying where I was. Now I'm starting to think I can't go back. Losing the reason or opportunity to return.

In the past, it was called ``evaporation''. Shohei Imamura's experimental film `` Human Evaporation '' (67) also used this as its driving force. An example I know of is a case where one day her husband went out in the car and never came back. It is called ``evaporation'' because a person disappears without a trace, but in reality it was very vivid. My wife is an acquaintance of mine there, and it was a no-brainer for me to bring her my car. No, I thought, cars are nice. It's more about people than cars. It's probably your husband. However, I was furious and thought it would be inconvenient not to have a car. I guess it's harassment. I thought I'd take my car with me.

Of course, he was shocked by her disappearance, but he told her to at least leave the car behind. Unlike in ``A Thousand Nights, One Night'', the wife (and child) who live in the town of Sakado in Saitama have changed their lives. I think it must have been difficult to balance her insurance work and housework, but she never seemed to be around waiting for her husband to come home. Before long, someone will come up to you and ask you something interesting like, ``Where have I seen your husband?'' or ``Where has he started a separate family?'' It seemed like it was all clear now. It seems like they grabbed her and made her pay child support. Therefore, it is not easy for something to "evaporate" without leaving a trace.

So, when I get tired of something and take my car out of the apartment garage, I think about that person. What if we just left the community's pull and went somewhere else? Is there another life waiting for me? Will my wife be furious and say, ``At least leave the car behind?'' However, when I got out of the car, I wondered what I would do about the parking lot. If you go missing in your car, you have to park your car somewhere. I wonder what happened to that husband. Do you dare to park on the street?

Text: Ichiro Enoki

Born in 1959. Born in Akita Prefecture. Debuted in a commercial magazine with ``Takarajima'' in 1980 while studying at Chuo University. Since then, he has serialized columns and essays in various magazines, and continues to this day. Also active on radio and television. Twitter @ichiroenokido