Watching Asia Film Reviews: The Sky Is Always Blue: Exploring Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Anti-War Trilogy [Editorial]

We really fear another war might break out at any time. I have lived a life full of mistakes. I regret my mistakes, but I want to move forward in a better direction. We must not allow another war. I can’t die until I’ve delivered that message. ~ Nobuhiko Obayashi

In my personal opinion, there are not many film directors nowadays who truly deserve the title of an auteur filmmaker. Overzealous critics and fans rush to praise a particular director just because of the sole fact that his/her movies have great box office returns. Nevertheless, being an auteur primarily requires having a distinct cinematic style. With the usage of avant-garde cinematography, surreal visuals, postmodernist narrative as well as blending of animation, CGI and live action, the late Nobuhiko Obayashi can without a doubt be called an auteur artist with a strong lust for life. This is my retrospective article about the director’s famous anti-war trilogy made between 2012 and 2017.

In order to fully understand the messages conveyed in Casting Blossoms to the Sky (2012), Seven Weeks (2014), and Hanagatami (2017), we should take a closer look at Obayashi’s personal life. Nobuhiko was born in 1938 and, from an early age, he and his peers were indoctrinated to support the war efforts of the militarist government. When Japan carried out a successful attack on Pearl Harbor, Nobuhiko even made a drawing presenting bombs being dropped on Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. However, the war frenzy reached an end in 1945 when the United States dropped “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is at that time when Nobuhiko realised the true meaning of war. The citizens of Japan were so brainwashed by their leaders that they were convinced the Allied Forces will lead to a complete and total annihilation of their country. Obayashi was afraid that for this reason only his mother might kill him and herself, just to avoid being executed by the Americans. In a touching NHK documentary from 2019 Nobuhiko Obayashi: His Promise, the director recalls these wartime memories and shows a photograph of his mother.

After the war, when Japan entered the stage of rebuilding itself under the watchful eye (and cultural influence) of America, young Obayashi started learning the filmmaking craft, initially making experimental short films and TV commercials. It was not until 1977 when he made the breakthrough into the mainstream with his debut feature film House; arguably, the first and only Obayashi’s movie that is recognised and enjoyed by horror fans in the West because of its off-the-wall aesthetics and unconventional storyline.

From this point forward, Obayashi was churning out coming-of-age movies with popular idols in leading roles, such as I Are You, You Am Me (1982), The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (1983), Lonely Heart (1985), His Motorbike, Her Island (1986), etc. It was in the year 1990 when on set of Dreams he met his mentor Akira Kurosawa who encouraged him to pursue anti-war themes in his pictures. As Obayashi explains, Kurosawa had an unwavering belief that movies about the painful past can change the course of the future.

Casting Blossoms to the Sky from 2012 feels like a time capsule of testimonies made by people who experienced the atrocities of war in Nagaoka in 1945. We follow journalist Reiko Endo (Yasuko Matsuyuki) as she explores the city and collects memories of its residents. Some lost loved ones in the course of air raids, whereas others were badly injured. We learn that mock-ups of the atomic bombs were dropped on Nagaoka because the Americans were already practising before obliterating Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, are Americans the only ones to be blamed? Obayashi condemns the futility of war, and especially of Japanese pride of partaking in this madness, in a series of striking visuals which constitute a stage play prepared by the people of Nagaoka. The movie concludes with a real Nagaoka Fireworks Display in memory of victims of Pearl Harbor attacks and of the US air raids. Both sides should reconcile and learn from their past mistakes.

Interestingly, Seven Weeks (2014) takes the theme of reconciliation and nostalgia to another level. The main protagonist of the film is Doctor Mitsuo Suzuki (Toru Shinagawa) who passes away at the age of 92 in the town of Ashibetsu. His sister (Tokie Hidari), grandchildren (Saki Terashima, Takehiro Murata, Yutaka Matsushige), great-granddaughter (Hirona Yamazaki), and former employee (Takako Tokiwa) gather together to perform mourning ceremonies. However, not everything goes according to plan. What exactly were the circumstances of Suzuki's death? It is up to the relatives to discover the traumatic past of young Suzuki who was fighting the Russians in Sakhalin, back when it was still under Japanese jurisdiction. Although the war ended in August, 1945, the surrender order did not reach Sakhalin until September 5. For Mitsuo, other soldiers, nurses, and residents of Sakhalin, this is the real date when the war ended.
In Seven Weeks, Obayashi takes great advantage of flashbacks, sifting narratives, and visuals reminiscing magical realism. In consequence, this is not just a story about atoning for past sins, but also about the possibility of reincarnation. Where do we come from and where are we going? Obayashi answers these questions by stating that behind each death there is a new birth. Something has to end so something new could begin. Life is a journey that has to be cherished rather than wasted on unnecessary suffering. The story of Sakhalin nurses commiting a group suicide to avoid the Russian invasion is especially chiling.

Last but not least, Hanagatami (2017) can be regarded as Obayashi’s anti-war magnum opus. Inspired by Kazuo Dan’s novel, the director was developing the project for 40 years, and when he finally got the budget to make it, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Although he was projected to have three months to live, this did not stop him from shooting the film and even working on a new project, Labyrinth of Cinema (2020), which turned out to be his final picture. In His Promise documentary, we can see frail Obayashi, supported by his wife Kyoko, relentlessly giving instructions to the cast of Hanagatami via walkie-talkie. He even had the strength to go to a festival in Paris and promote the film!
The movie itself can be best described as a performance art caught on camera. Nobuhiko explains that he did not do any rehearsal with the actors and actresses in order to capture their genuine reactions and expressions. What is more, the way Hanagatami was shot is also interesting. To compensate for his small budget, Obayashi breaks nearly every filmmaking convention and, as a result, we get CGI landscapes, artificial camera pans, rapid zoom-ins, and mirrored angles of certain shots.

Hanagatami is not a motion picture but rather a visual poem that pulls you in with its rawness and wickedness. This is Obayashi’s harsh statement against the foolishness of youth. In the film, we follow Toshihiko Sakakiyama (Shunsuke Kubozuka) who attends a school in Karatsu and frequently encounters his colleagues (Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Keishi Nagatsuka, Tokio Emoto) as well as his aunt Keiko (Takako Tokiwa) and ailing cousin Mina (Honoka Yahagi). On the day when Pearl Harbor is attacked, Toshihiko can’t help but celebrate. However, this is also the day that marks the death of Mina. Together with her death, all of the other characters lose their innocence in face of the upcoming war with America. “I’ll survive in the red, setting sun of Manjuria,” repeats Keiko the words of her dying husband as if foolishly believing in the success of the Japanese East Asian Order. During an English class, Toshihiko asks his nihilistic friend Kira: “What will happen if Japan goes to war with the country of Edgar Allan Poe? We won’t be able to read Black Cat anymore.” Obayashi answers to viewers that only death awaits all the young men who go to war. Toshihiko has the luck of being one of the few soldiers who survived the traumatic period, but at what cost? As an elderly man, does he fear death? Does Nobuhiko Obayashi himself fear death? In the final scene of the film, the actor playing Toshihiko appears actually as Nobuhiko and ponders on this troubling issue…

All things considered, exploring Nobuhiko Obayahi’s anti-war trilogy was quite an experience for me. After these three films, each running well over two and a half hours, you will find yourself questioning your very existence. That’s Nobuhiko Obayashi for you. In His Promise documentary, we can see him walking the streets of Paris and exclaiming: "The sky is always blue!" Only this man could have made such a trilogy in modern-day era (because Masaki Kobayashi did it first with The Human Condition) which questions and evaluates the Japanese wartime past as well as serves as a warning for future generations. My thanks go to Third Window Films for sharing the movies with me. Without their support, I would not have been able to write this article. On the 13th of December, they are going to release the trilogy in a limited Blu-Ray set which will also include making-of featurettes and interviews with Obayashi. In the meantime, I leave you with the words from the master himself. Thank you for reading:

I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and given three months to live. I am not supposed to be here, but I am still alive. The legendary Akira Kurosawa left a message for me and for the world’s future film directors. I stand before you today risking my life to pass that message on to all of you: The beauty and power of film can save the world from war and lead it toward peace. If you can’t do it, your children can. If not, your grandchildren can continue, little by little. Then, one day, 400 years from now, someone will make my movie and the power of film will erase all wars from the world. ~ Nobuhiko Obayashi (June, 2017)