Tony Takitani

Japan 2014. Dir Jun Ichikawa.


With Issei Ogata and Rie Miyazawa.

Art Direction by Yoshikazu Ichida.

Jun Ichikawa’s adaptation of a short story by Haruki Murakami is an exquisitely stylish and poignant meditation on emotional attachment and loss. Set against the background of postwar and modern-day Japan, the plot follows the life of Tony Takitani and the young woman, Eiko, he marries. Eiko’s obsession with designer clothes and accessories is so powerful that it ends up consuming her and even threatens to outlive her. Yet her preoccupation is never treated as evidence of moral decline or superficiality; rather, it is an opportunity to probe complex human emotions such as pleasure and fulfilment, intimacy, isolation, longing, and letting go.