Performing Kaoru’s Funeral

Dealing with death and saying goodbye to the deceased is handled very differently both culturally and individually. Rarely, however, does one expect scenes of unintentional comedy amidst all the tragedy. But this is exactly what Jun, ex-husband of Kaoru, who died suddenly and far too early, encounters. As her next of kin, he is appointed the customary chief mourner in Japan. During the funeral ceremony, he melancholically reminisces about his former wife and encounters the various people from her life on whom she left good impressions, but also decisively negative ones. The bereaved exhibit behaviour ranging from emotional coldness to uncontrolled outbursts, causing many an absurd or even comical scene. They all have their unalterable memories and ideas about the deceased, which may have little to do with the actual person. The clash of these mutual positions creates an explosive dynamic.

Performing Kaoru's Funeral won the Japan Cuts Award at the Osaka Film Festival, the biggest award to date for director Noriko YUASA in her career, which has so far specialised in short films and TV series. Yuasa, who based the film on her own experiences, will personally honour Japannual as a guest. She previously made the short film Girl, Wavering with her screenwriter Takato NISHI in 2015, for which she received an award at the Skip City Film Festival. Her leading actor Kōji SEKI, who has so far mainly been booked in supporting roles, has already appeared in Intolerance (JPL ‘22), but was also in Kiyoshi KUROSAWA's short film Chime this year. The young Chise NIITSU was one of the busiest child actresses in Japan and was already seen in Mrs Noisy at Japannual 2020.