Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2012

This flick, which snatched the Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo International Film Fest last year, treads a fine line between touching and cliché, sweet and saccharine.

Katsu (the renowned Koji Yakusho) is a down-home lumberjack who is also having a tough time as a single father with a rebellious teenage son (Kengo Kora). Then a bumbling kid turns up in his woods and asks him to stop chainsawing because they are shooting a film. Since the Tokyo-based crew has no knowledge of the locale, Katsu quickly gets involved in the zombie pic, and develops a rapport with its young director Koichi (Shin Oguri). The filmmaker is a self-involved artist who has little idea how to deal with people and this is mirrored by Katsu’s gruff, off-putting exterior. The two develop a bond like father and son, teaching each a lesson about relationships.

Some humorous scenes, like Katsu taking over directing, work well, and the on-screen dynamic between Yakusho and Oguri has a life. The insights, though, are rather pedestrian and predictable. With more penetrating dialog this could have been something special—but it’s quite watchable as it is.

English title: The Woodsman and the Rain; 129 min