Nakinagara Ikite

Nakinagara Ikite

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2009 The direct translation of Nakinagara Ikite is “living while crying,” and at times it seems this film’s raison d’etre is to make everyone in it, and the audience, break down in tears. That said, the documentary—which was shot over a 15-year-period and originally aired as a series on […]

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Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2009

©2006 フジテレビジョン/東方吉祥

©2006 フジテレビジョン/東方吉祥

The direct translation of Nakinagara Ikite is “living while crying,” and at times it seems this film’s raison d’etre is to make everyone in it, and the audience, break down in tears. That said, the documentary—which was shot over a 15-year-period and originally aired as a series on Fuji TV—is a compelling project. It tells the story of Shangbiao Ding, a Chinese man who scraped and borrowed to come to Japan to study the language—only to find his school was in the hinterlands of Hokkaido. With no way to work, and thus survive, Ding fled to Tokyo and toiled at menial jobs to pay back his loans and earn enough money to send his only child, daughter Lin, to university in the US. The film’s strength is its immediacy, but the constant slamming home of Ding’s sacrifice gets annoying. The filmmakers use every tear-jerking trick in the book—from music swells to slo-mo—and repeat much of the same info again and again. Still, the brief shots of Lin in the US, working towards being a doctor and speaking fluent English, carry an
emotive punch. English title: We Cry, We Live. (108 min)