[FILM] The inspiration for the Japanese film Tony Takatani was, well just that—Tony Takatani. Writer Hakuri Murakami created a fictional character based solely on a name written across a t-shirt. Mukakami found the shirt (with what turns out to be the name of a man who had run for Hawaiian senator in the late 1970s) in a Maui thrift store and claims that every time he wears the shirt he feels like Takatani is asking him to write a story. Strand Release presents the film by Jun Ichikawa about a man who as a child spent much of his time alone owing to the fact that his mother was deceased and his father put more of his energy into a jazz band than his own son. Tony Takatani grows up with the idea that emotions are silly, illogical and unimportant until he meets and marries Eiko, a woman with an obsession for buying designer clothes. For the first time Tony is vulnerable to another person and with his wife he finally feels alive. Unfortunately, her obsession with clothes worsens and she continues to buy more and more outfits. When Tony’s concern leads him to intervene and stop her habit, tragedy soon follows. Sitting lonely, surrounded by the empty shells of her couture and livelihood, Tony decides to take out an ad to find a companion with Eiko’s exact measurements. The film was showed at the Locano film festival and won a special jury prize at Sundance. And I thought there were nothing but dingy shirts with stretched-out necks at our thrift shops! Maybe a lot more can be found if we look a little closer. [GABRIELLE POCCIA]
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