“The Blessing Bell” (幸福の鐘) Review – A Retrospective of Sabu’s Works, Japan Society

There’s something to be said about going through life experiences on one’s own.  Having other individuals squarely in the mix results in certain merits: the insights gained through conversation, the unconditional support, happy distractions and a shared bond in real time.  But what is left when the voices fade?

Igarashi (Susumu Terajima) finds himself in an awkward situation in “The Blessing Bell.” (photo courtesy of the Japan Society)

It is this question that Sabu ponders for 87 minutes in “The Blessing Bell,” a 2002 film that is part of the Japan Society’s “Run, Salaryman, Run!” retrospective for the director.  Eschewing the hyper energy that splashes throughout his works such as his most recent, the j-drama “Troubleman,” Sabu takes an almost meditative approach as the camera follows Igarashi, a man who has lost his job at a factory.  Rather than head straight home, Igarashi spends the next 24 hours wandering past the looming structures of his former place of employment, then through town and past its outskirts to gather his thoughts.  Along the way, he is thrown into jail but later earns respect from the police, wins the lottery only to lose his prize, meets a ghost, witnesses a suicide and gets hit by a car.  While these and other events initially appear to lack a connection, through Igarashi’s eyes – and silence – issues of mortality repeatedly arise.

Igarashi is played by Susumu Terajima, an actor best known for his yakuza roles in Sabu’s and Takeshi Kitano’s films.  Here Terajima takes the solitary lead role of a seemingly dour man who chooses to observe rather than react to his bad news.  After walking past his protesting colleagues and pursuing his thoughts on his own terms, Igarashi is forced to open up his peripheral vision much like the audience watching him must do.  When Igarashi experiences his epiphany, so does the viewer who has traveled alongside him on his journey.  The result is a strangely quiet, deceptively simple work chockfull of offbeat moments that only Sabu can dream up, and one that resonates long after the credits have rolled.

“The Blessing Bell” screens at the Japan Society in New York City on Fri., Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m. as part of “Run, Salaryman, Run!:  A Retrospective of Sabu’s Works.”   “Troubleman” screens on Sat., Feb. 5, at 5 p.m.  Tickets for both films are available at japansociety.org.

Video: Sabu appears at the opening film of his Japan Society retrospective, “Monday”

video by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine