Living (2020)

A Pandemic Dividend

What do you do when your country goes into lock-down, and normal TV productions are halted for a few weeks? How about grabbing one of the greatest living screen-writers in Japan, and rush out four short stories that can be filmed in the actor's homes?

Apparently on a tight deadline, Sakamoto-sensei includes a self-insert character who needs to get a series of scripts out the door. The writer played by Abe Sadao is going a bit wonky from isolation, and has a defensive relation to an acorn as he tries to grapple with the inherent worth of humanity, as one does. His segments serve as the wrapper for all four short stories.

All the stories are set in sort of parallel universes to now. The first deals with a modern species of Neanderthals facing their probable extinction to Homo Sapiens. The second has two brothers sharing the making of a meal before a divided Japan begins a civil war with the two on opposite sides. The third is a charming tale of a guy trying to salvage his relationship by using a magic spell which resets the mind of his girl friend back a couple of minutes. And the final episode has a TV producer grappling with the decision to air a program which could get him fired while he confronts an incident in his past.

I found three of the episodes delightful, and all of the performances are quite good. The series is short, and more Sakamoto writing is always a good thing.

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