The Island Closest to Heaven (1984) [Film Review]

The Island Closest to Heaven; or, Let’s Go to the Beach
     See this river? If you follow it all the way out, it leads you to the sea. If you keep going, way to the south, all the way to the other side of the world, there’s a small island made of pure white coral. That is the island closest to where God is in heaven.
I continue my journey through Obayashi’s Kadokawa productions, this time with The Island Closest to Heaven from 1984, yet another Tomoyo Harada vehicle, based on an autobiographical book authored by Morimura Katsura.

Release Info

Directed by: Nobuhiko Obayashi Starring: Tomoyo Harada, Ryoichi Takayanagi, Toru Minegishi

Language: Japanese Original Title: 天国にいちばん近い島 Runtime: 102 min

Synopsis
When Mari Katsuragi (Tomoyo Harada) was a little girl, her father told her about an island far to the south where it is always sunny and warm. It was the island closest to heaven, and the father promised Mari that they would visit it together. After the father’s passing, Mari declares to her mother that she is going to search for the island on her own. She goes to New Caledonia where she meets a whole bunch of idiosyncratic natives and Japanese immigrants who will make an impact on her life.

Safe Space
I would say that The Island Closest to Heaven is the first unusual filmmaking endeavour for Obayashi because it does not have an avant-garde storyline or fantasy/horror elements. The film is primarily an introspective, soul-searching journey of the main heroine who makes her first steps into adulthood.

I would not call this a Bildungsroman in and of itself, but rather a slice-of-life evaluation of the Japanese immigrant experience within the French territory of New Caledonia. Indeed, Obayashi populates the story with many people deriving from different backgrounds and age groups. Mari finds herself particularly torn in between two men, a young “local” Taro (Ryoichi Takayanagi) and an elderly tour guide Yuichi (Toru Minegishi). She goes through teenage love in the first relationship, but Yuichi’s heartbroken past (which Mari glues back in the finale) teaches her that there is still much more to experience in life.

The juxtaposition between the indigenous people and the Japanese immigrants done by Obayashi is also interesting. Mari, in the course of her journey experiences disappointment after disappointment, failure after failure. The Japanese settlers to whom Taro belongs reject Mari because they perceive her as an outsider: “You shouldn’t fall in love with a tourist. You’ll end up being lonely,” Taro is warned. However, the natives unconditionally rush to the rescue and save Mari suffering from fever. This marks her rite of passage into an adult woman.

In addition, Mari’s relationship with a Japanese widow who visited New Caledonia to pay respects to her deceased husband is also intriguing. One would expect the widow to behave in a restrained and conservative manner, but her character (as expected from Obayashi) is suffused with sentimentality, and she advises Mari that “Life is not long. You need to be unreasonable sometimes.” This stands in stark contrast with the behaviour of Mari’s travel colleague Fukuko (Maiko Ogo) who carelessly consumes alcohol and hunts in the hotel poolside for prospective French boyfriends.

With regard to performances, Tomoyo Harada provides a decent performance as the female lead, but I preferred her more assertive modus operandi as depicted in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Ryoichi Takayanagi does a better job this time round as the love interest, but his delivery of lines is still off. Toru Minegishi is outstanding in the supporting part and a true highlight of the motion picture.

Recommendations
All things considered, this is one of the Obayashi films to which I fondly come back just to revisit the tranquil ambience. Thanks to the wonderful cinematography helmed by Yoshitaka Sakamoto and the peaceful, orchestral music score composed by Tomoyuki Asakawa, The Island Closest to Heaven feels like a classic Hollywood picture from the 1930s but suffused with vibrant colours and breathtaking locations. The Third Window release of the film contains such bonus features as an original theatrical trailer, an audio commentary by Samm Deighan, and a video essay called “Obayashi - Femininity in Transition” by Robert Edwards. My only complaint is that the theme of the essay would have been more fitting for the potential discussion of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.Overall score: 8/10

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