My Back Page / マイ・バック・ページ

Matsuken (AKA Kenichi Matsuyama) makes a second high profile appearance in as many years as a 60s/70s generation 20-something in My Back Page. Unlike Toru, the uncommitted protagonist of Norwegian Wood, here he gets to stretch his actor’s chops in a complex manifestation of a driven student radical, Umeyama. Based on the real life remembrances of critic Saburo Kawamoto, director Nobuhiro Yamashita (Linda, Linda, Linda) cast another rising star/heartthrob, Satoshi Tsumabuki (Villain), to play the role of Saburo as a young journalist – called Sawada for fictional purposes. The smartly directed duo get the rare opportunity to dig into the crazy times of social and political change with a cinematic chemistry that makes a beautiful emotional sense of the relationship between two complex men.  My Back Page is a welcome addition to a recent spate of films dealing with the radical turmoil of 30 or so years ago. Coupling a bittersweet nostalgia with an unromantic looks at motivation, actions and consequences, it reveals and revels in an emotional honesty that says more than most history books.

Originally published in EL Magazine, June 2011