Year: 2011
Director: Takahiro Miki
Screenplay: Takahiro Miki
Cinematography: Masataka Kato
Cast: Yamazaki Kento, Hashimoto Ai
Runtime: 67 min.
Trailer: at nipponcinema (no subtitles) or on youtube (no subtitles)
Seen at its European Premiere at the 2011 Raindance Film Festival.
In 2008 the band Galileo Galilei from Wakkanai – Japan’s northernmost city on the island of Hokkaido – won the teenage talent festival Senkou Riot. When Director Takahiro Miki heard their first original song live in concert, he decided wanted to make a film based on it – the result being 管制塔 (Kanseitō/Control Tower).
Suitably for a film inspired by a song and made by a director primarily known for music videos, Kanseitō opens with the chords of a guitar, followed by images of a wintery Hokkaido landscape. Only then are we introduced to the first character: Takeru, a fifteen-year old schoolboy. Takeru is a loner and although it is never explained why he is so withdrawn from the world around him, we get the sense that he is simply different and out of place, unable to relate to any of his classmates. He speaks to no one, avoids people by keeping headphones in his ears – headphones that are not plugged into any music player – and escapes to an empty assembly hall to eat lunch by himself. There he lies supine, staring at an empty ceiling, as the days repeat themselves. The bleakness of his adolescence is interrupted when a newly arrived transfer student, Takemoto Mizuho (Mii), finds him in the hall and flies a paper airplane across that ceiling-sky, into Takeru’s solitary world. Mii, who has changed schools and places too many times for her to remember, is equally much a loner as Takeru and ignores her classmates’ persistent questions. She however takes an interest in him. Although her attempts at conversation are initially met with silence, Takeru realises that there is something that connects them when Mii echoes words he has thought to himself: “Adults always want explanations but we don’t always have the words to express everything.” From then on, the two form a friendship, bond over music and develop timid feelings of first love.
The most significant symbol of the film is the one provides it its title: the kanseitō, the control tower, from which all of Takeru and Mii’s town can be seen. It appears only halfway through the film and features prominently in just one scene, but it is then and there that we learn the most about the two teens’ situations: Mii longs to reach not just the furthest place in Japan – Wakkanai, where the film is set – but on earth, in hope of finally escaping what she and her father have been running from, while Takeru promises to create a second landmark for her if the control tower, representative of the uncertain future, is not enough to guide her back to his town – and him.
With the majority of scenes focusing on Takeru and Mii, the film is essentially carried by its teen actors but relative newcomer Yamazaki Kento and Hashimoto Ai (from last year’s 告白/Kokuhaku/Confessions) are perfectly cast. They communicate their characters’ feelings even in silence, through glances that play a role in some scenes – at their first meeting, in the classroom, on the bus home from the control tower. It is comforting that Yamazaki is no brilliant singer. His voice is solid, but raw, expressing the pain of his heartbreak when Mii disappears. Meanwhile, Hashimoto manages to make Mii both a forthright character that will not bow to her “puerile” classmates as well as a fragile one, occasionally letting us catch a glimpse of the burden of her home life.
Takahiro Miki deserves praise for a music-centred film that is also wonderfully photographic. Shots of the snowy landscape, the growing orange glow around a silhouette emerging from a garage door in pitch-black darkness, and characters cycling past in blinding sunlight are beautiful and memorable, and make the film worth watching on that account alone.
But there is not just sound and image to Kanseitō: there is a story and it is a story well-told. Kanseitō convincingly portrays the feelings of love and loneliness of its teen characters and lets us experience the lack of control that adolescents have over their own lives. The ending too conveys that limited power, but still contains hope: the promise of a return to the control tower.
Rating: I left the cinema thinking, ‘I can’t think what to improve on’, so, a rare 10/10.
Bonus links:
- Website of the band Galileo Galilei (in Japanese). Their debut album Parade, which includes the film’s title song Kanseitō, is available on iTunes as well as Amazon.
- Music clip (with film scenes): Galilei Galilei’s Kanseitō
Love this image of the Galileo Galilei band members, so I just had to include it:
Great review! I actually watched this movie yesterday without subtitles. It was a little bit hard to understand sometimes, but I’m studying Japanese so I was able to understand a considerate amount of the lines. I was like you very impressed by the beautiful scenery, story and feel of the movie. But I hope I can watch it again with subtitles soon!
It was a great little movie pearl 🙂
I’m glad you got to watch it – hopefully a subtitled version will be available soon too. I’m impressed you were able to follow along, my Japanese isn’t at that level yet (I’ll pick up words or some phrases, and occasionally catch discrepancies between what is said and what’s in the subtitles, e.g. at the beginning of the film when the little brother says “oneechan” a number of times, they just used Takeru’s name in the subtitles).
You might appreciate this: I went to see another Japanese film today (奇跡 /Kiseki/I Wish) and there was a scene in which kids in school are talking to a classmate of theirs who is just starting out as an actress. Someone asks her if she has met “Nino”, and, if she does, to get his autograph. Someone else says she prefers “Ohno”. This was a 10 second snippet in a two hour film – so I was really proud of myself for catching that and understanding what (who) they were talking about! I think only the Japanese members in the audience picked that up otherwise.
i already watched this movie and “solanin” – another production from the same director, and i kinda guessed correctly on the plot, except the ending.. i’m aware that japanese/korean movies offer more realistic endings compared to happy hollywood endings, but i can’t still accept the ending of this movie LOL.. i think both of them need a closure or something as it’s quite painful to see how it ends. the promise is there and it’s an open ending but i wished the director gives additional 15 minutes to conclude it.. nevertheless it’s a great movie and highly recommended if you like movies such as solanin, beck, suckseed.
the ending reminds me of “a werewolf boy” (korean movie), it ended with a promise waiting to be fulfilled.
Sorry for the super-slow response on my part!
I didn’t mind the ending here too much. I feel like it left all the possibilities open, and my interpretation was that they’d definitely meet again in the future. The only thing that I would criticise is the no-contact things… nowadays in times of email and mobile phones… who runs off without exchanging details?
But the same happened in the Taiwanese movie Starry Starry Night as well.
I’ve seen Werewolf Boy, need to review it! Liked that one a lot as well.
Haha yeah about the no-contact thing, i feel the same with movie (animated) titled 5 cm per second by makoto shinkai, it’s more “facepalm-ing”.. Do you have other movie recommendations based on this movie, if you dont mind to share? I just know that the pair in this movie plays also in movie titled “another”, but i havent watched it yet..
No worries about the late reply, keep posting, i found many other great movies in your site ^o^
Well, what are your favourite movies/genres? (Easier to recommend if you give me some indication of what you like.)
Generally, I would recommend anything that Hashimoto Ai (the female lead in Kanseito) is in, I’m convinced she’s going to be big.
You could also browse the Trailer Weekly posts for suggestions, though most of those I have not watched yet.