Strangers

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Yamada has gained accolades from substantial writers such as David Mitchell and Bret Easton Ellis, but this novel is more a gentle entertainment than a serious psychic disturbance." - James Urquhart, Daily Telegraph In news designed to make homosexuals make weird sounds when they hear it: Looking and Weekend creator Andrew Haigh’s new movie includes Fleabag’s sexy priest, Andrew Scott, and Normal People’s sexy shorts wearer, Paul Mescal, in a loose adaptation of Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel, Strangers. Also starring in the cast are The Crown’s Claire Foy and Kate Mara’s Jamie Bell. Foy has plenty of reasons to shout “A bunch of boys!” again. And the trailer for the film is just as sensual, gorgeous, and gay as any self-respecting homosexual might hope. Meanwhile he also become more involved with the woman in his building, Kei, with a real relationship developing between them. Then he meets a man who looks and sounds just like his father, and whose wife looks and sounds like his mother. They even call him son. But they are in their early thirties, the age his parents were when they died. This cannot be right. Taichi Yamada is one of the most famous and highly respected writers in Japan. Winner of many awards for literary excellence from private organizations and from the Japanese government, he is best known for his scripts for TV dramas, but has also written many novels and plays. He was born in Tokyo in 1934, and graduated from Waseda University in 1958 after having studied japanese Language and Literature in the Department of Education. That same year he entered the Shochiku Film Company and began to work at the Ofuna Studio Production Department. In 1965, he left Shochiku and established himself as an independent scenario writer.

On the night of his birthday, hit by a wave of nostalgia, he visits the entertainment district of Asakusa where he grew up. His parents died many years ago, killed in a road accident when he was 12 and they were in their mid thirties. In the old and now run-down streets he goes to the theatre where he sees a mediocre comedian. In the audience he is astonished to see a man who looks exactly like his long-dead sushi chef father. Invited for drinks at the man’s home, Harada is even more astounded to find that the wife looks exactly like his dead mother. They’re the same age as his parents were when they died.

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We learn his life’s been marked by constant tragedy: he loses his parents when he was 12 to an accident; he lives with his grandfather out in the country, eventually losing him too. Finally, it is an uncle of his who helps him with his college tuition as he comes of age without much of a family unit to complete him. In reading these early scenes, it reminded me too much of films or books where it is usually about a lonely male protagonist who finds himself in a noirish situation where he falls for a mysterious woman who awakens what’s dead inside. I was partially correct: Hideo is entranced by his waiflike neighbor Kei and the two begin an affair. Hideo loves touching Kei’s bottom parts complete with moles that show his desire to love physically. I shuddered thinking this would become a book about the exposure of male glaze that I was fearing. So, this is the moment where Hideo falls for Kei, at least physically. Strangers is written with a tone that reveals great emotional discernment." - Peter Burnett, Scotland on Sunday I really enjoyed the haunting mood of Strangers. It somehow maintains a calm tone at the same time as feeling quite fast-paced, and the climactic moments are especially great. A psychological ghost story that's both chilling and unexpectedly comforting. A) story that pens in spare strokes a portrait of urban alienation. (...) Less subtle, unfortunately, are the vagaries of the translation into American English. (...) What survives, however, is a memorably uncanny tapestry, and a powerful atmosphere, of heat and rain and sorrow." - Steven Poole, The Guardian

Less subtle, unfortunately, are the vagaries of the translation into American English. To have a Japanese sushi chef from the 1940s say "Yo" as a form of greeting is ludicrous; meanwhile, a scene of seduction has Harada kissing his girlfriend's "leftward rump", as if she were some well-rounded specimen of beef cattle. Pe de alta parte, daca acceptam supranaturalul, atunci putem afirma ca prin suferinta, prin divort, Hideo a devenit un fel de "felinar", un "magnet" pentru spiritele care mai aveau ceva de spus in lumea noastra. Acesta este un concept des intalnit si in filme, indeosebi cele japoneze, cand eroul devine un portal pentru spiritele de dincolo. Eu as tinde spre aceasta explicatie, mi se pare mai pe gustul meu. :) Strangers relies on quite a few entirely unbelievable occurrences, and there are a number of supernatural goings-on, which means that significant aspects of the novel can't withstand much close scrutiny. It somehow seems entirely natural then for Hideo to take up the man's invitation and go for a beer at the man's home.

Eventually, however, Kei makes it clear to him that he must essentially choose between this unreal wallow in nostalgia and embracing the present. Intr-o zi Hideo decide sa faca o mica plimbare in Asakusa, locul unde s-a nascut. Acolo intra intr-o sala de cinema in fata careia cu ani in urma si-au pierdut vietile parintii lui intr-un accident. Surprinzator pe unul dintre locuri il recunoaste pe tatal sau printre spectatori. Acesta il conduce acasa la el unde o vede si pe mama lui traind ca pe vremuri cand era inca vie. Ambii il tot invita sa mai treaca pe la ei si el se tot duce pana cand devine din ce in ce mai palid si secat de viata. Cei din jur isi fac griji pentru el si-l roaga sa nu se mai intoarca in Asakusa insa el tanjeste sa mearga in continuare la parintii lui chiar si cu pretul vietii. Harada-san (Hideo) is in his mid 40s, is a scriptwriter for television who isn't working all that much any more and lives alone, having been recently divorced and never taking enough time to see his college-age son. He lives in Tokyo, in an apartment which is an office building by day but which during the night has maybe one or two lit windows that one can see from the outside. He is just a drab little man with a blah life. Many years ago, when he just a boy (I think he was 12), he was waiting for his parents to return home but they never did. His mom and dad were doubled on a bike when they were hit from behind in a hit-and-run accident. He was sent to live with his grandmother, but then she died, then sent to live with his uncle, who sent him to college and then died. Well, as it turns out, one day it was Hideo's birthday and he got a bee in his bonnet to go to his birthplace of Akasuka. When he arrived, he walked into a mediocre comedy club pretty much kept going by tour bus crowds, and there he saw a man that looked just like his father. It looked so much like his dad that he couldn't help but to keep looking at the guy. At the end of the performance, the strange man invited Harada-san to come home with him for a beer so Hideo goes. When he arrives, the strange man's wife is there and she is the spitting image of his mother. From there, the tale gets stranger and stranger and Hideo Harada finds himself in great danger from the other side. related in a pared-down prose style that matches well with Harada’s spartan life. He’s doesn’t seem to have any friends, he has lost touch with his only son and has no interest other than working on the script for a new series. Understandable therefore that he feels the pull towards this other surreal world. Putem sa interpretam in mai multe feluri aceste elemente de supranatural: am putea crede ca eroul sufera de o tulburare psihica in care mintea sa cauta un refugiu confortabil in trecut, in copilarie, in parinti, atunci cand trece printr-o trauma cum ar fi un divort. Este firesc ca pacientul sa gestioneze necazul refugiindu-se intr-un loc unde s-a simtit bine. Dar atunci ar fi greu de explicat prezenta femeii cu cicatrice. Daca fortam un pic interpretarea putem spune ca ea reprezinta constiinta, vinovatia lui.