Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2012

Yusuke Iseya is an acclaimed actor and artist so there was much interest when he decided to direct as well. His 2002 directorial debut Kakuto was well received but it has taken nine years for the man to complete his second project, five of which were reportedly taken up with him struggling with this script. That’s understandable because it’s adapted from the best-selling novel “Seiji” by Tomoki Tsujiuchi, which presents an existential and abstract atmosphere.

The story, told in flashback, concerns a college senior (Mirai Moriyama) who, unsatisfied with life, goes on a long bicycle trip. On the way he runs across Seiji (Hidetoshi Nishijima), a man who seems to be living a disconnected and lonely, but somehow honest, life. The kid decides to work at his restaurant and is exposed to a host of local characters who reinvigorate him. The flick unspooled in the sought-after Special Screenings category of the last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival and has a plaintive tone the harmonizes well with the shots of the Japanese countryside. Though it does, at times, spill over to the melodramatic, the piece is able to communicate both the lostness of Japanese youth and hope within that ennui.

English title: Fish on Land; 108 min