Elephant Song

Elephant Song; Drama, Japan, 1994; D: Go Riju, S: Miyuki Matsuda, Susumu Terajima, Yuki Takamura, Hiromi Kuronuma, Morio Agata

Kanako is a waitress with a measly salary, she smokes and lives with her son. One day while serving people, she gets a phone call: her good friend and customer died and his last wish was to get a luxurious funeral. Kanako doesn't have the money for that, so she leaves for a store to think. Among many poster, she spots a girl playing on a piano and gets an idea: she persuades Yoshiki to transport the corpse with a wan to a forest. They eat in a restaurant, but in the morning they gets scared of the police so Kanako and her son bury the dead body on a hill.

Quiet drama "Elephant Song" is unusual for a number of facts, mostly due to one: it's only 60 minutes long, but it's still seems overlong. But not even it's economic tone looks senseful since the director Go Riju obviously didn't have something to say. The whole story can be sumed in two sentences: the waitress finds out about the death of a friend, the waitress buries him in the woods. That's it. Events and consequences on the characters are non existent, everything is filled with empty scenes, while only the actress Miyuku Matsuda is very good. It's an attempt at introverted, contemplative and demanding piece of work, and the demanding tone can be sensed, but alone it seems boring.

Grade:+