10 April,2010 07:52 AM IST | | Subhash K Jha
The Japanese Wife
U/A; Drama
Dir: Aparna Sen
Cast: Rahul Bose, Raima Sen, Chigusa Takaku, Moushumi Chatterjee, Rudranil Ghosh
''
What's It About: This story of a long-distance 'marriage' between a Bengali bhadra-lok from rural Bengal Snehmoy (Bose) and his Japanese pen-pal Miyage (Takaku) suffers from an incurable disease known as Inherent Silliness.
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Based on a true story by Kunal Basu, this is the ultimate non-romance between two people who thoroughly deserve each other.
They're both so annoying and outdated! The couple married to each other for over 15 years never meets and barely speaks to each other on the phone a few times (talk about phone-y relationships!).
When Miyage falls ill in Japan, Snehmoy goes to the doctor in Kolkata with her medical reports.
The doc's expression when he hears why the patient can't come personally to be examined, is exactly the way we feel about this long-distance marriage.
Aparna Sen, in what is arguably her most disastrous film to date, intersperses the over-sweet ridiculously idealistic relationship with quaint post-picture images from Snehmoy's rural home life with his aunt (Moushumi) and a widow (Sen), who moves into the schoolteacher-hero's home with her son.
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While Rahul's Japanese connection makes you want to run and cover your face in a kimono, the actor's rapport with the widow's son (Ghosh) conveys a natural warmth and grace.
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What's Hot: Aparna Sen has always shown a keen eye for visual detail. The scenes from Snehmoy's home life, the architectural details.
The scenic landscape, incidental characters encountered in toasted-brown lanes, and the boats riding the swelling rivers are done with heartwarming tenderness.
Full credit to cinematographer Anay Goswami for using the screen space to create picture-postcard scenes of rural Bengal.
What's Not: This time, Aparna Sen is let down by the basic implausibility of the material.
What could have been a poignant and haunting tale of love, under- standing and marriage between two people from different cultures and countries ends up being just a misconstructed series of verbal exchanges on the soundtrack between Rahul Bose and the Japanese actress.
Bose, who has repeatedly proved himself a skilled actor, is unable to take his character to a level beyond the irritating. What is supposed to be moving and emotional often turns out to be unintentionally laughable.
What to do: A self-important and frustrating film. Arjun Sablok did long-distance love much better with Hrithik Roshan and Esha Deol in Na Tum Jaano Na Hum.
