Review of Dear Etranger

DEAR ETRANGER (DEAR STRANGER/OUTSIDER) / WE ARE HAVING A BABY / BABY US WITH BEING BORN [Lit.] (OSANAGO WARERA NI UMARE). Viewed at CineMatsuri 2018. Script = four (4) stars; subtitles = three (3) stars; lighting and color correction = three (3) stars; cinematography = two (2) stars. While divorce may work (more or less) for adults, the negative impact on children can be considerable and lasting especially when remarriages occur and there are multiple sets of bio/step-parents. Working from a well-written script, this is the primary focus of Director Yukiko Mishima's multithreaded photo play which is a drama that does not descend into melodramatic territory. Mishima's serial-marriage story involves a divorced professional woman with full custody of a pre-teen daughter (whom she never wanted because of her career ambitions) now remarried (her new husband has become sick and is dying) with her former husband played by Tadanobu Asano (a recently fired salary man now working in a warehouse, but still wearing a suit to work!) marrying a divorced battered/abused younger woman who is a housewife with a grade school and a high school (early-teen) daughter and has (reluctantly) become pregnant. The professional woman's daughter has deeply repressed negative emotions about her stepfather (and, perhaps, her mother); the early teen daughter hates her stepfather and starts to attack her pregnant mother like her biofather used to attacked her mother (and herself); and the grade-school daughter is starting to ask pointed questions about her parentage and seriously listen to the hate rants of her rebellious older sister. Three marriages and three (traumatized or about to be) daughters--so far. In a way, all characters are strangers at least to members of other reconstituted families which Asano's character works hard to ensure and refuses to acknowledge his pigeon-hole selfishness even when his adopted teenage daughter keeps telling him he is a stranger and demands to see (and, perhaps, live with) her biofather. The Director only partially resolves this mess, but drops hints as to what might happen down the road. Child actresses Sara Minami, Raiju Kamata, and Miu Arai steal most of the scenes causing adult players to scramble to keep up. The use of flashbacks is a bit confusing, as it can be unclear when they end (labels are applied when they begin). Asano's performance is overloaded with pregnant (no pun intended) pauses. Cinematography (blown up from 16 mm, DCP, color) suffers from the "fog" and graininess that accompany blow ups. Hand-held camera(s) is not stabilized for movement artifacts (despite corrective techniques being readily available for decades!) and provides an ongoing distraction/nuisance. Lighting and color correction are fine. Sound is limited to three channels. Music is barely there and not really missed. Subtitles are close enough with most signs/text translated. May cause you to reconsider having kids, but recommended nonetheless! WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.