Taketori Monogatari |
Japan • 1987 • 121m •
   • Directed by: Kon Ichikawa. • Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Ayako Wakao, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Kôji Ishizaka, Kiichi Nakai, Koasa Shunpûtei, Takatoshi Takeda, Megumi Odaka, Katsuo Nakamura, Shirô Itô, Fujio Tokita, Takeshi Katô, Kyôko Kishida. • Music by: Kensaku Tanikawa.    A 9th century bamboo cutter comes across a curious glass capsule, housing a tiny baby girl who holds a crystal ball in her hand. Once released, the infant instantly becomes a five-year-old; the astonished Mifune, whose own child has recently died, decides to adopt the girl. It isn't very long before the child becomes a beautiful adult, whose blue eyes--a decided rarity in Japan--attract every man within hailing distance. Mifune hopes to hide his daughter away from predatory males, but the girl is constantly courted by eligible bachelors. By and by, the crystal ball begins to emit a strange sound, alerting the girl that she must return to the Moon, whence she came and where she will reign as princess.
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Review:
The original story was written sometime around the 10th century (at least that's what Wikipedia says) though at the end of the film it says it's set around 790AD. Regardless, it's a very fanciful tale that has been updated a bit to suit modern sensibilities. The film begins with a wood cutter (Toshiro Mifune) finding a baby when he's out in the bamboo forest visiting his daughter's grave. However, this is no ordinary baby--it grows VERY fast and is an outer space baby!! And, more importantly, it looks like his dead daughter but with weird blue eyes (in the original story, she had hair that shone like the moon). She soon grows up--at a highly accelerated rate. And, she's so beautiful that all the men seem to want her--even the Emperor! However, she rebuffs all their advances and sends the suitors off on impossibly crazy tasks--and you assume it's just to get them out of her hair! Later, the film becomes a LOT like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", as her actual people from the Moon are coming back to claim her. This is because given modern sensibilities and special effects, the ship looks a lot like those from Spielberg films--such as "Close Encounters" or "E.T."! It's all the more amazing because the story was written so long ago.
The story is very beautifully filmed, acted and the story is pretty exciting. The only negative is that, inexplicably, the film's credits roll with a song from Peter Cetera (from "Chicago")--music that seems odd given that it's a medieval story! However, this is a very minor quibble and the story is lovely from start to finish.
Review by planktonrules from the Internet Movie Database.
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