Leonie / レオニー

Leonie follows the story of Leonie Gilmour, mother of sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Though the details of her life are lost to history, director Hisako Matsui, speculates as to Leonie’s character, motivations and unfulfilled life. Beautifully shot, with wonderful period design and costumes, Leonie falls somewhat flat in casting choices, a somewhat facile feminism, stilted dialogue and ultimately a central character who is hard headed, but not particularly dynamic as person. The film starts with Leonie (Emily Mortimer) as a young woman, brash and full of vinegar. After meeting poet Yone Noguchi (Shidou Nakamura), bearing his child, following him to Japan, finding out he is married, struggling for years without learning a word of Japanese, sending her son to an uncertain future in the USA, returning and dying soon after Noguchi’s first exhibition, all one is left with is a portrait of a battered spirit and the continued calcification of her heart. Her sad story is even further trivialized by the rationale of her spirit living through the work of her son. She deserved more.

Originally published in EL Magazine, December 2010