The Film (3/5)

To help distract herself from the loss of her child, a young nurse (Machiko Ono) starts a new job taking care of an elderly man (Shigeki Uda), who happens to be suffering from dementia. One day while going on an errand run, the nurse’s car has an accident. Leaving for help, the man runs loose into a nearby forest. As the nurse tries to catch up with him, the two find themselves lost in the woods. But nothing is quite what it seems.

THE MOURNING FOREST (2007) comes to us from director Naomi Kawase. A filmmaker I wasn’t aware of before sitting down to view this film.  Then looking at her filmography, I discovered she directed SWEET BEAN, a film I was completely surprised by and reviewed a year or so ago. Judging from these two films alone, I think a rediscovery is in order.

Watching The Mourning Forest I was touched by the mix of a loose narrative and a documentary style look. In a way similar to the loosely plotted films of Werner Herzog, what unfolded in front of me was a bittersweet story of loss and finding one’s self. Kawase is also one of the busiest female directors in Japan currently, and I can see why she keeps it up. She mixes a refreshing blend of feminine perspective with a matter of fact look.  One of the ways this really showed was with the naturalist acting of the two leads. Both are played as real people with all the awkward hiccups of unscripted action that happen in real life. Also the scenery is simply breathtaking with lots of great long shots of the forest and the wind passing through.

With the themes of aging, loss, and sickness, it’s easy to see why this movie wouldn’t be a great crowd pleaser. I found myself a little worried it would be too heavy handed, but luckily it stayed interesting enough and balanced. I don’t want to spoil too much, but I will say that the ending makes some of the slower parts all worth the wait. Haunting and simple.

Audio/Video (4.5/5)

The movie comes with a 5.1 DTS-HD Ma Japanese track. The sound mix is clear and free of any hiss or issues. The use of sound effects are clear as day and don’t suffer from any compression issues. The minimal score is also high quality and sounded fantastic on my sound system. There is a second track that is a Japanese 2.0 Stereo mix. From the spots I checked it sounded great. Just a little softer in spots. English subtitles are included.

The 1080p HD transfer is lacking in a couple of areas. The daylight scenes look amazing and have no issues with blur or print damage. But the real problem is in the darker lit scenes in the woods. There is some softer and unfocused areas that this transfer isn’t kind to. As for the rest of the transfer the black levels are crisp and most of the film has a sharp focus.

Extras (2/5)

The extras are slim. We get a trailer and a production still gallery. In the Blu-ray case is a 20- page booklet of liner notes and an interview with Kawase.

Overall (3/5)

While I prefer SWEET BEAN, THE MOURNING FOREST is a well-crafted drama and think piece. Not perfect but a lovely piece of human drama. Recommended.