Paco and the Magical Picture Book

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Movie: Paco and the Magical Picture Book
Romaji: Pako to mahp no ehon
Japanese: パコと魔法の絵本
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Writer: Hirohito Goto, Nobuhiro Monma, Tetsuya Nakashima
Producer: Yutaka Suzuki
Cinematography: Shoichi Ato, Atsushi Ozawa
Released: September 13, 2008
Runtime: 105 min.
Distributor: Toho
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

Plot

There once was a hospital where patients and even doctors & nurses were all weird. Above all, Onuki, a patient who built up his company all by himself from scratch, is a super cranky old man. One day, he meets up a girl called Paco, who cannot retain memory beyond one day due to a car accident. She is reading the same picture book everyday. Onuki starts bonding with Paco after some incident, and begins to doubt his way of living. He starts wanting to do something for Paco with his remaining life, and comes up with a brilliant idea. This pleases Paco, but their fate is…

Cast

Koji Yakusho - Onuki
Ayaka Wilson - Paco
Satoshi Tsumabuki - Muromachi (patient)
Hitori Gekidan - Takita (patient)
Jun Kunimura - Wendy Kinomoto (patient)
Takaya Yamauchi - Ryumonji (patient)
Anna Tsuchiya - Tamako (nurse)
Eiko Koike - Masami (nurse)
Takaya Kamikawa - Asano (doctor)
Sadao Abe - Horigome
Ryo Kase - Koichi

Cameos

Trailer

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Image Gallery

Film Festivals

2009 (13th) Fantasia Film Festival - July 9th-29th (Canadian Premiere)

Awards

2009 (32nd) Japan Academy Prize - February 20th - Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction (Towako Kuwajima)
- "Nominated for:"

Director of the Year - (Tetsuya Nakashima)
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - (Koji Yakusho)
Outstanding Achievement in Music - Gabriele Roberto
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography - Shouichi Atou / Atushi Ozawa
Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Direction - Shin Takakura
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction - Towako Kuwajima
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Recording - Shin Fukuda / Tadao Tasai
Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing - Yoshiyuki Koike

2009 (13th) Fantasia Film Festival - ÉCRAN FANTASTIQUE Award

Comments

Comment #1
lunapark6.com Says:
May 18 2009 12:15 am

Tetsuya Nakashima certainly made a splash with his 2006 film “Memories of Matsuko.” That movie delivered a sensory experience like so few others have before and packed an emotional punch that most plain-jane tearjerkers could only dream of having. Since that time anticipation for his next film grew precipitously, especially so when it was revealed his next film would be “Paco and the Magical Book” - a fairytale like story set in a mental institution. The possibilities of what Tetsuya Nakashima could accomplish in this setting seemed boundless. Having a cast of Koji Yakusho, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Akkna Tsuchiya, Sadao Abe, & Ryo Kase also made the film seem like a can’t miss prospect. In theory at least.

In “Paco and the Magical Book,” a cantankerous old man, Okunuki, collapses during a board meeting and is sent off to the hospital. He grew his company from a small time shop to a mega corporation by having the personality of a pit bull. At the hospital, Okunuki is put off by everyone around him. The cast of characters include a transvestite, a former child actor now a suicidal adult, and a scarred man shot from a mysterious bullet. He then comes across young Paco. The cheerful young girl asks Okunuki to read out loud her favorite picture book. At first he refuses, but relents after more prodding. What Okunuki doesn’t know is that Paco suffers from severe short term memory loss. After a car accident that killed her parents Paco can only hold new memories for one day.

The next day, Okunuki comes across Paco, but Paco doesn’t recognize Okunuki. Paco again asks Okunuki to read to her, but Okunuki becomes furious believing the girl is playing a child’s prank. When Paco pulls out a lighter that Okunuki mistakenly believes she stole from him, he becomes even more enraged and punches her in the face.

The following day, Okunuki meets Paco again and again Paco doesn’t recognize him. Okunuki then realizes that girl wasn’t playing a prank and for the first time in his life he starts to feel guilt. But is it too late to make amends?

While the setup seems like a marked departure from "Memories of Matsuko," when you watch "Paco & The Magical Picture Book" you can't help to immediately think of "Memories of Matsuko." Nakashima reuses all of the same techniques from Matsuko but with more intensity. Faster edits, more bizarre characters, more color, more everything. The narrative also unfolds through flashbacks, with the story told by a family member. All of this ends up giving the movie a feeling of listening to a 33rpm record on 45rpm speed. Satoshi Tsumabuki is always screaming or crying, the camera suddenly zooms in on Anna Tsuchiya's angry punk-goth face, Sadao Abe and his handlebar mustache quickly jumps onscreen and off, and sweet little ole' Ayaka Wilson repeats the same lines over and over. Because of this, the connection between any one character and audience becomes distant at best. Koji Yakusho does give a fine performance and is nearly unrecognizable in his Albert Einstein meets Bozo the Clown garb, but just about everything else becomes lost in translation (and this is coming from someone that didn't find Mika Ninagawa's "Sakuran" overbearing ).

There’s actually a solid story of redemption in “Paco and the Magical Picture Book.” Unfortunately about 80% of the film is more focused on a particular style which drowns out the chances of the story striking a chord with the viewers. Basically “Paco and the Magical Picture Book” is “Memories of Matsuko” on steroids. If you loved Nakashima’s “Kamikaze Girls” and were impressed by the style of “Memories of Matsuko,” then you should certainly give “Paco and the Magical Picture Book” a try. I now remember why I couldn’t finish “Kamikaze Girls.” If this was only a 60 second commercial ….