Rena Tanaka takes the scenic route to happiness in ‘Yamazakura’

When it comes to recent Japanese period dramas, there’s probably not a surer thing than adapting a Shuhei Fujisawa novel. Yoji Yamada’s samurai trilogy - The Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade, and Love and Honor were all based on Fujisawa’s work and now Tetsuo Shinohara (Heaven’s Bookstore, Riding the Metro) is trying his hand at adapting the short story Yamazakura. In the movie Rena Tanaka (Drugstore Girl, Gegege no Kitaro) plays Noe Isomura, a woman in the midst of her second marriage. After her first husband died, she had the choice of several possible candidates for an arranged marriage. She finally settled on Shouzaemon Isomura (Tetsuya Chiba), choosing him over a man named Tezuka (Noriyuki Higashiyama) because Tezuka already had a child. Unfortunately Isomura is kind of a pompous jerk who’s completely obsessed with the samurai lifestyle and amassing wealth. Noe is soon trapped in a miserable home life that her own fairly arbitrary decision caused.

One day Noe finds herself drawn to a beautiful tree full of cherry blossoms after visiting the grave of her aunt. She reaches up for a branch, and another hand reaches higher to grab it for her. Ironically, it’s Tezuka. After a brief moment together he simply asks if she’s happy. Noe is confused by the question, and pauses before finally letting out a meek “… yes”, knowing in her heart that she’s really not. Neither of them would know at the time that this chance encounter would soon alter the course of both of their lives.

Here’s the trailer:

Yamazakura opens in Japanese theaters tomorrow (5/31).

Links:
Official website
Eigapedia

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Tags: edo period, nao minamisawa, noriyuki higashiyama, rena tanaka, tetsuo shinohara, tetsuya chiba