marvelous diptych on the love of Japanese director Kôji Fukada

We enjoyed discovering the filmography of this Japanese “new wave” filmmaker last summer with Fukada Summer, a retrospective featuring 5 of his films. We find it with the release on May 11 and 18 of Follow me I’m escaping you, Escape me and I will follow youa love fable in two chapters inspired by a manga by Mochiru Hoshisato.

A model employee, Tsuji (Win Morisaki) works at a toy and fireworks company. The only breach of the rules he allows himself is to flirt with two of his colleagues. Something to spice up his routine life a bit, until Ukiyo (Kaho Tsuchimura), a somewhat clueless woman, comes into his life whom he saves from an accident on a railway track.

Tsuji becomes attached to the young woman and does everything to help her despite the trouble she keeps causing him. In the first chapter of this diptych, Tsuji follows, Ukiyo flees, then in the second the situation is reversed.

We let ourselves be taken on board with pleasure in this diptych in the form of a tale, which is reminiscent of the amorous pangs ofAndromache of Racine, where love constantly misses its appointments.

Through this romantic comedy tinged with suspense presented at Cannes in 2020, the director paints a picture of contemporary Japanese society, and a variation on romantic relationships in a country still marked by deep-rooted traditions, a macho country in which women struggles to find his place. In this respect, the film recounts the emancipation of Ukiyo, necessary for the blossoming of a balanced and shared love.

Beyond the universal fable on love, Kôji Fukada plunges us into the daily life of middle-class Japanese people, and evokes with a certain irony office life, work relations, with corruption and corruption in the background. the persistent presence in Japanese society of the mafia.

We become attached to the characters of Tsuji and Ukiyo, two somewhat offbeat beings, imbued with poetry, who have a hard time adapting to the strict and sometimes brutal standards of Japanese society, including in its dark side.

From incident to incident, the director plays mirror effects, repeating certain situations with the same dialogues, but where the roles are reversed. He thus has fun reversing stereotypes, of the femme fatale, the villainous mafia, or even the betrayed lover.

Evoking the French cinema of the New Wave – a Godard, or even a Rohmer – the diptych Follow me I’m escaping you, Escape me and I will follow you is an enchantment.

Gender : romance
Director: Koji Fukada
Actors: Win Morisaki, Kaho Tsuchimura, Shosei Uno
Country : Japan
Duration : 1H49min (“Follow me, I’m running from you”) / 2h04 (“Flee me, I’m following you”)
Exit : May 11 (“Follow me, I’m running away from you”) and May 18 (“Flee me, I’m running away from you”)
Distributer : Art House
Summary:
“Follow me I’m escaping you” : Between his two office colleagues, Tsuji’s heart swings. Until that night when he meets Ukiyo, whose life he saves on a level crossing. Despite the warnings of those around him, he is irremediably attracted to the young woman… who keeps disappearing.
“Escape me and I will follow you” : Tsuji decided to forget about Ukiyo permanently and get engaged to his office mate. Ukiyo, on the other hand, does not get rid of the memory of Tsuji… but this time, it is him who has disappeared.