Eriko, Pretended (2018)

"We guide the attendees to feel the presence of the deceased. Show them the way of farewell."

I've been meaning to watch this indie film since last year when I read an article about it that reminded me of Departures. At last, I did it recently! In this one, the story tackles professional mourning. Generally, there is more to tradition than what was shown in the movie, but here, they focused on display of grief and helping the family to reminisce.

Haruka in her first lead role gave off a decent performance. Her features are perfect to give mild expressions, but also realistic if she needs to express more (like when she got pissed at the exaggerated weeping, and before that, when she had to cry in front of the family --her face grimacing slowly was epic!). I'd say those were the comical aspects aside from the awkward dancing. Support cast were also good, particularly her aunt and the professional mourner. The nephew might not appear expressive about the loss but silently affected by it. He's mature enough to recognize things around him and more likely to get by as he has people to take care of him. While the insensitive boyfriend came across annoying, the guy from the past actually looked better with the lead (though I know it was too late for them).

Cinematography emits a pleasant, natural tone that you can easily relate to. Plot is simple, but its point lies within Eriko's realization that her sister always care for her, and that her relationship and career are unstable so to support a child when her life is a mess would be in question. Her pretentious ways and being estranged to family hinders her to show truthfulness in whatever she does. Acting is not just about crying, but it's ironic that after all this time, what her sister does for a living is part of her craft which she never happened to portray. In my opinion, that moment she finally cried effectively was somehow became an outlet to also mourn her sister's death, more so because she wasn't able to reunite with her. The child who was there that never witnessed his mother's job was not just able to understand how it's done, but also had seen his aunt's sincerity.
The story ended with a nice track in the background. Its light, quiet approach tells to find one's motivation again by being true to oneself.

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