My Review of ‘Sweet Bean’ (2015)

Hi, today I’m reviewing the movie Sweet Bean. The director is Naomi Kawase, and it’s a Japanese film from 2015. It’s a really great movie. I think I found it great for various reasons, including the fact that a theme within the movie is the importance of appreciating nature, and that’s shown in every possible way in this movie. I mean, the cinematography, pictures, footage of the cherry blossom trees. Oh my God, they’re beautiful. I wrote in my notes “cherry blossoms = instant relaxation”, something to that effect, because that’s the way I felt watching the beginning of this movie. The camera just lingers on these cherry blossoms and they’re just so beautiful and relaxing, and there’s an old woman you see looking at the cherry blossoms and relaxing. So she plays a part in the movie. You can tell right away that she’s going to show up again, and sure enough, she does.

Although she is not the protagonist, though at one point I asked myself, who is the protagonist in this movie? But actually the protagonist is a middle-aged man who’s going through a life crisis of sorts. I seem to be attracted to Japanese movies about middle-aged men who are going through some kind of life crisis, as well as the cherry blossoms and the beautiful natural settings, and so on. Anyway, it’s a very good movie. He has a small business. He works as a manager for a woman who apparently owns the place, but—I’ll get to the “but” in a second. He owes her money. She did him a favor for him by taking him on. Her husband, I think, had sort of deeded the place, not deeded the place, but gave him the managerial position rather than she. She did not do that.

Nonetheless, what I’m saying is that he’s doing like, okay, getting by. This old woman shows up and apparently wants a job. He turns her away. Then she shows up and says, I like what you’re making here, but … it’s a treat called dorayaki, I think. It’s like a pancake with something sweet tucked in it, like a little sandwich of pancake with sweetness in it. Anyway, she shows up and says, “Your pancakes are okay, but that filling is just …” meh. And so she has this recipe, this sweet bean recipe, and from there he does eventually take her on [as an employee], and I won’t say much more except to say that the woman has a problem that comes out that creates a problem for the business, and that’s where the real conflict comes in. And it’s interesting because during the virtual discussion with the group I meet with through the Anne Arundel Public Library, when we were discussing this movie, many people started off by saying, “I normally don’t like slow movies, but …”

And then they would say something good about this movie. So even if you don’t like slow movies, you might want to give this one a try. Maybe you won’t react the same, maybe you will, I don’t know. But it is definitely worth watching. It’s beautifully filmed. The acting is great, the characters are wonderful, and the situations are relatable, and I just highly recommend it. I think it’s a great movie and so Sweet Bean, check it out. One thing I didn’t realize. When I was looking at the Wikipedia entry for this movie, it described the woman who owned the place as a loan shark. That’s not a subject that came up during the discussion. I don’t think any of us knew that unless they know something that they didn’t bring up. I don’t know. Anyway, I thought that was an interesting point, that she’s not doing this even as a business decision from the perspective of whether she likes him as a manager.

She is simply a loan shark. Wow, that’s in the Wikipedia entry. Maybe it’s wrong, I don’t know. But she was the owner of the place as I understood it. Anyway, having said that, it’s still great movie. Do see it. Japanese movies rock. I’ve decided that I should just move to Japan and just make Japanese movies and make lots of movies about cherry trees and nature and the fauna and flora of Japan and middle-aged men finding themselves amid them or middle-aged women even. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Maybe. Maybe not. In any case, take care and check that one out. It’s good. Be seeing you.

Quick addition to what I just said, he’s working there also to pay off a debt to this woman who owns the place or is a loan shark, one or the other [or both]. She has lent him money, because there were reparations he had to make because of a criminal thing he did in his past, and that’s part of his problem too. So other than that, really it’s a celebration of appreciating life no matter what circumstances you’re in. I think that kind of sums it up. All right, good. I’m glad I could do that then. Take care. See you.

*****

Directed by Naomi Kawase
Screenplay by Naomi Kawase (based on AN by Durian Sukegawa)