Starting Over
Written and directed by Takashi Nishihara
Japan, 2014
Less coming of age or coming out story as it is a stark portrait of isolation, Takashi Nishihara’s microbudget Starting Over follows nineteen year-old Nana (Mika Akizuki) in her struggle to survive in a society that has stacked the odds against her. Shot independently, guerilla-style, the resulting film is compelling albeit slightly rough around the edges.
Nana lives in the not so glamorous side of Tokyo; the one with dingy apartments, call girl agencies whose clients include married men, and children trying to care for their parents when they can’t even take care of themselves. Student by day and agency girl by night, Nana is emotionally bankrupt between having to watch lonely old men jerk off to her and caring for her cold, indifferent mother. Her sole comfort is her best friend and first love Marin (Nina Endo). But the joy of realizing that the borders of their feelings for one another transcend friendship is fleeting – one night after Nana falls asleep, Marin reads online that, in their native Japan, gay marriage and domestic partnership remain unrecognized by the law. Can they stay together in a world that treats their love as illegitimate?
Consistently dreary in tone, the film suggests that the characters can never truly attain the fresh start referenced by the title. Marin, for instance, gets a well-paying modeling gig – and then shortly thereafter an abortion. After drifting apart due to Nana’s agency job, the two girls attempt to reconnect several times, but the relationship is like a spark that can never fully ignite. Nor does Nishihara fully explore the characters even though there is ample time to do so. Early on, Nana implies that she’s known for a while that she wasn’t into guys, yet her coming into her own sexuality is a topic that remains unexplored, as is why Marin appears to be parentless.
It becomes difficult to watch as Nana seems perpetually beaten down by life with no end in sight (the only laughs from my audience came after someone emitted a lout snore), but Starting Over does have redeeming qualities. The film, shot by Daisuke Yamamoto, retains a haunting beauty in the vein of Nobody Knows, another dismal Tokyo tale, and both Akizuki and Endo give strong performances. Nishihara’s pacing never quite gains its footing, but patient viewers may still find the film worthwhile.
– Misa Shikuma
