REVIEW: Blu-ray Only Release: Memories Of Matsuko

Film: Memories Of Matsuko
Release date: 14th February 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 130 mins
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring: Miki Nakatani, Eita, Yusuke Iseya, Teruyuki Kagawa, YosiYosi Arakawa
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Musical/Mystery
Studio: Third Window
Format: Blu-ray
Country: Japan

From the heart and mind of multi award-winning Japanese director Tetsuya Nakashima - famed for the critically acclaimed Kamikaze Girls and, more recently, the Oscar-nominated Confessions - comes a visually stunning and peculiar musical- drama with a gritty undertone bubbling beneath its cherry blossom surface.

Do not let the genre fool you; this is far from the family friendly musical we have all come to know (and possibly love). Think more Sweeney Todd as opposed to Grease. The word “sex” is echoed three times within the opening minutes of Memories Of Matsuko, so PG this is not.

The resonance of such profanity can be heralded to Sho; a down-and-out, 20-year-old man drowning in a sea of porn and alcohol. He is quickly dumped by his current squeeze for living a somewhat meaningless existence.

After a particularly vice-filled night to dampen his heartbreak, he is awoken by his father, Norio, in a surprise visit. Norio, who is indifferent to the squalor of his son’s lifestyle, asks Sho for one simple favor. That is to clean the apartment of Matsuko Kawajiri, a 53-year-old, overweight and unkempt woman living as a worthless recluse. And to Sho, the aunt he never knew existed, until she was found murdered in cold blood.

From this point on, the story is told retrospectively, with Sho learning of his aunt’s life through the many different colorful characters he meets, whose lives are intricately linked with the memory of Matsuko. Beginning with the comic relief, tattooed neighbour and police detective, we jump back in time to Matsuko’s early years as a young, attractive school teacher. Matsuko’s story begins to unravel as the film jumps between the present day and the past.

From her childhood days, her rocky relationship with her father and sister, her downfall as a teacher, to her forays into abusive relationships, prostitution, prison, murder, love, friendship and salvation. We soon learn of every harrowing detail, which will eventually lead to her breaking point, and ultimate demise...


On the surface, Memories Of Matsuko is a simple story of love, loss and redemption told through bright, overly saturated colours and the occasional sing song. Matsuko (Miki Nakatini) drives the storyline as the naïve, head-in-the-clouds princess searching for that one true love, while trudging through the heartbreakers and rejects. However, writer and director Tetsuya Nakashima has taken this two-dimensional cliché and invigorated it with a genuine sense of humanity and life. He has in turn contributed a perfect reminder of one very important aspect of filmmaking - extraordinarily good storytelling!

Miki Nakatani’s portrayal of troubled heroine Matsuko Kawajiri is beyond any reasonable doubt, simply awe inspiring, and well-deserving of the six separate Best Actress awards she has received for such a complex character. She is able to capture the fundamental nature of a woman who is caught in a downward spiral, beginning with such captivating innocence as a young adult. We are able to understand the basis of why her character will ultimately end up the way she does, starting with the simple psychological fodder of ‘daddy issues’.

The neglect she receives from her father (who favours her over her sick sister) is a surprisingly relatable issue in today’s world. It is the strong yet simple ideal that Tetsuya Nakashima plays off, to bestow a sense of empathy and sympathy to a character who is, in effect, an extremely needy and, at times, self-absorbed person.

But it is because of the multiple dimensions this character has that Miki Nakatani proves her worth as a diverse actress. As Matsuko grows from the stereotypically cute young woman, both her character and her performance begin to gradually mature.

The constant strive to please people in the hope that it leads to acceptance is upheld as the backbone of such a character, and Miki does exceptionally well to provide the obligatory three dimensions throughout the film. But all is well and good saying she can smile or cry when the time is right, what is actually the most admirable aspect of Miki Nakatani’s performance is the significance of sincere emotion, charm and the authentic sense of confusion she injects into a character who is put into situations none of us would wish upon ourselves.

Her emotions are juxtaposed against her scenarios; so the subtleties like smiling softly after being beaten are visual oxymoron’s that make us forget that Matsuko is just a character in a film, and instead we see heartfelt performances from all the characters, that transcends past the screen and touches our hearts. We begin to realise that Matsuko is human, and feels as we would feel if we were to face blow after blow, devoid of any salvation.

If this sounds like you will be watching a human train wreck, then admittedly it is just that. As things go from bad to worse in Matsuko’s life, we find out through her eyes how she must feel despised (which is made clear at the beginning of the film when she utters: “Please forgive me for being born”) from the people she has hurt to her feelings of rejection. What Tetsuya Nakashima weaves from this is a cast of characters that prove the complete opposite.

This is where the one grumble rears its ugly head. A lot of the supporting characters, while heartfelt and very enjoyable to watch, can also be a tad over exaggerated. This is maybe intended to fool viewers into a false sense of security, especially coupled with the cartoony visuals; however, some characters feel like caricatures of people they should have been, with the saying ‘less is more’ applying.

As mentioned before, the visuals are CGI heavy, utilizing animation and quirky sound effects. All of this is put to good use alongside some very unusual cinematography. While definitely not everybody’s cup of tea, in the context of the subject matter being tackled in the film; it is clear that this is all intended to be a bizarre contrast to the very adult subject matter.

Diving deeper into the cinematography, it is clear that a lot of thought has been put into blending the emotion and colour together. Like a lot of Asian cinema, colour is vital. So like with Hero or Lady Vengeance, you will get your darker more sombre colours with your sad scenes, and your bright over-the-top colours and over exposure in happy scenes.

The same goes for the musical sequences; while very cute, catchy and enjoyable, coupled together with very applicable and literal lyrics, it, at times, can actually get quite awkward, especially if you’re a testosterone-filled male. The cutesy animations and bubblegum lyrics can make any adult feel fairly embarrassed if they are caught watching this alone. However, given a chance you will find that these musical sequences are actually a very inventive, and a creative muse for exceptional storytelling.

With an award from the Japanese Academy for Best Music Score; the music is intelligently interwoven into the story. So don’t expect to see hundreds of characters bursting into random harmonies. But instead the music acts more like a backing track to Matsuko’s life. Matsuko does not generally ‘sing’ but instead she ‘sings along’ to sometimes funny, or sometimes racy, but always genuinely intimate and applicable songs that pack one hell of an emotive punch.


Memories Of Matsuko is an epic tale of harrowing humanity, filled with lessons of life and unconditional love. Tetsuya Nakashima has woven together an irrefutable blend of good storytelling and interesting visuals to bring you a story that will touch you from the beginning to the end. If you enjoyed films like Amelie then be sure to give this a try. VLN