Tsuneo is a university student working part-time in a mah-jong parlour. Lately the customers have been talking about an old lady who pushes a baby carriage through the streets. They say she is carrying something for a crime syndicate, and they wonder what it is she has in the carriage... Money? Drugs? One day, the owner of the mah-jong parlour sends Tsuneo out to walk his dog. A baby carriage comes rolling down a hill and crashes into a guard rail. The old lady asks him to look into the carriage, where he finds a young woman clutching a knife. This is how Tsuneo first meets the girl who calls herself Josée. Her real name is Kumiko, and she is unable to walk, so her grandmother takes her out early every morning in the old baby carriage. To thank Tsuneo for his help, they offer him breakfast, and he begins to fall under the spell of the young woman's unusual charm. Kumiko has named herself after the heroine of a novel by Françoise Sagan, and Tsuneo comes to call this strange girl by that name. He grows more and more attracted to her.
Highbrow cinema goers might point to Chang-dong Lee's "Oasis" as one of the more touching films about handicapped persons. As much I enjoyed that film, "Josee, The Tiger, & Fish" is made more from the heart specifically for the regular folks and it is just brilliant. None of the wishy-washy Hollywood fairy tale endings in this one, but don't take this film to be an utterly depressing film. It's not. It reflects perfectly how the average person may respond to someone with a disability and regardless of how you feel towards their actions his actions strikes a nerve.
Beyond the story, you also have Satoshi Tsumabuki pre mega superstar giving as smooth of a performance as I have seen from him. But the person that will likely capture your heart in this film is Chizuru Ikewaki as "Jozee". You'll want to put her in a sack and take her home. As icing on the cake, and worth the price of admission alone, you also have Juri Ueno giving her only performance so far in her career as the evil bitch.
RamenLover Says:
Oct 08 2008 2:15 am
Highbrow cinema goers might point to Chang-dong Lee's "Oasis" as one of the more touching films about handicapped persons. As much I enjoyed that film, "Josee, The Tiger, & Fish" is made more from the heart specifically for the regular folks and it is just brilliant. None of the wishy-washy Hollywood fairy tale endings in this one, but don't take this film to be an utterly depressing film. It's not. It reflects perfectly how the average person may respond to someone with a disability and regardless of how you feel towards their actions his actions strikes a nerve.
Beyond the story, you also have Satoshi Tsumabuki pre mega superstar giving as smooth of a performance as I have seen from him. But the person that will likely capture your heart in this film is Chizuru Ikewaki as "Jozee". You'll want to put her in a sack and take her home. As icing on the cake, and worth the price of admission alone, you also have Juri Ueno giving her only performance so far in her career as the evil bitch.
Brilliant film and it stays with you.