Talking About The Asadas (2020)

- I finally got around to rewatching this movie last night after watching - it on a plane one time. It really stuck with me because of a scene near - the end that made me cry. I usually don't really talk about movies all - that much but I felt the need to discuss this one. -

- On rewatch, the film did not hold up as well as I remembered. I still - enjoyed it, but I found the plot and pacing to be somewhat odd. It felt - like two disjoint movies, one about a struggling photographer trying to - follow his dreams and one about trying to find hope in the aftermath of - the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. I think both stories worked well on their - own, but I think that they failed to transition effectively between the - two. -

- The first half of the movie shows Masashi taking up photography after - seeing his father gifts him the old family camera. He is very interested - in photography as a child before becoming directionless after graduating - from his university with a prestigious award for a family photo he took. - Years later, he becomes inspired once again and begins taking many - family photos, each with funny themes where the family pretends to be in - various different scenarios such as pretending they were all on a car - racing team or that they were a family of gangsters. He publishes a book - of this photography and initially has little success before winning an - award for it and achieving a lot of success. I found this section to be - very poorly paced. He pretty quickly goes from his book being an abject - failure to a huge success. It feels like it was missing something, but - the family photos were cute and fun and the struggles of wanting to do - something, but never doing anything to satisfy that urge to create is - immensely relatable to me. -

- The second half of the movie was significantly more emotionally - stimulating and I think that it deals with the devestation of such a - natural disaster very well. In particular, I appreciated how it dealt - with a young child who had lost her father in the earthquake. After his - death she was very distraught because she could not find any photos of - her father in the collection of photos that protagonist Masashi Asada - and other volunteers had helped salvage. At the same time, Masashi's - father was having a medical emergency and his family thought he may pass - away. Similarly, there were few photos of him before Masashi took up - photography as his father was always the one behind the camera. - Realizing this, Masashi quickly comes back to Tōhoku to take a family - photo for that child. Wearing the father's old watch to take a photo, he - made the family realize that their father was actually in every single - one of those photos, just behind the camera instead of in front. -

- The movie ends with a fake-out about the father's death. It shows the - family surrounding him as he lays down as though dead. His wife falls - forward to sob, and then you hear a camera shutter and the family all - start laughing. This was just another of Masashi's fun themed family - photos. The scene gave me a good chuckle. -

- Overall, I found the movie to be very cute and I found that it did a - great job of dealing with the tragedy of natural disaster. I really wish - that it did a better job of pacing the first half and tying the themes - of the first half to the second half. It felt disjointed and that is - disappointing to me because I think it could have been a really - fantastic movie if those issues were worked through with a little more - script editing. -