La Maison de Himiko
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Profile
- Movie: La Maison de Himiko
- Romaji: Mezon do Himiko
- Japanese: メゾン・ド・ヒミコ
- Director: Isshin Inudou
- Writer: Aya Watanabe
- Producer:
- Cinematographer
- Release Date: August 27, 2005
- Runtime: 130 min.
- Movie Studio: Asmik Ace Entertainment
- Language: Japanese
- Country: Japan
Plot
Saori has always disliked her gay father and has lived her life denying his existence. One rainy day she receives a visit at work from a young man called Haruhiko. He tells her that her father is dying of cancer and that the nursing home he operates is in danger of closing. Out of curiosity and debt, Saori goes to visit her father at the House of Himiko, a nursing home for gay old men. It is a sad place but filled with sardonic good cheer. Surprised but pleased, Haruhiko shows her around. The old men who live there are delighted. Saori is at first repelled by the relationship between Haruhiko and Himiko but she soon sees that their feelings are genuine. She begins taking an interest in keeping the nursing home alive...
Notes
How a culture deals with its aging population and how it relates to its gay community are two measures of its humanity. The latest film from Isshin Inudo, who specializes in offbeat comedy, asks how Japan's aging homosexuals will fare, and the answer is, with the same outsider resilience that got them through life thus far. The House of Himiko is a beautiful seaside rest home for gay men, founded by the former proprietor of a legendary Ginza transvestite bar. Moving slowly through his domain, the stone-faced aging beauty in flowing kimono faces death from cancer. A devoted young assistant, Haruhiko, tricks Himiko's long-estranged daughter Saori into working at the home, which is populated by everyone from gentlemen chess players who spent a lifetime hiding their sexuality to cross-dressers whose burden of female identity has driven them “flaming.” Inudo's smart visual sense makes the film's finer moments resonate beyond quirky comedy—as when the residents, taking in the reality of losing one of their own, are suffused in a totally yellow light; or when they all gather on the balcony to blissfully watch tattooed young men bathing in the waves. We catch on much quicker than Saori—sullen in her abandonment-induced homophobia—to the realization that the feelings at play here run much deeper than the desire to wear (or not to wear) a dress. It is about the desire to love, and to die, as one chooses. Popular young stars Joe Odagiri as the searching Haruhiko and Kou Shibasaki as the emotionally crippled Saori play beautifully against type.
Cast
- Joe Odagiri - Haruhiko
- Kou Shibasaki - Saori Yoshida
- Min Tanaka - Himiko
- Kira Aoyama - Yamazaki
- Shinichi Hatori - Announcer
- Hirokazu Inoue - Takao
- Junkyu Moriyama - Kijima
- Chiharu Muraishi - Erina
- Hiroki Murakami - Chubby
- Hidetoshi Nishijima - Hosokawa
- Tokimasa Tanabe - Junya
- Torauemon Utazawa - Ruby
- Shinichi Yanagisawa - Masaki
- Youchan - Kikue
- Hiroshi Okochi
Trailer
Film Festivals
- 2006 (1st) Kinotayo Film Festival - November 21-November 25 - Feature Films
Image Gallery
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