Daughters
The debut film combines portions of Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” (2003) with recent works of Mika Ninagawa (“Followers” 2020), and the early documentaries of Kawase, but refrains from being a pure copy of these. Instead, Tsuda manages to keep his own concept, which gives an interesting outlook for his future projects.
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With his simple, gentle, and authentic exploration of how a pregnancy rewrites one’s current and future life, Tsuda proves that one does not need a complex narrative or a profound thematic depth to touch the spectator. And given the traditional ideas and ideals that persist in the Japanese Other, Tsuda’s narrative might very well play an important role in ‘decriminalizing’ the notion of conscious single motherhood.
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Hello, my name is Hajime Tsuda, and I’m the director of “Daughters.” I am grateful that this film was picked up by SAKKA and will be showcased to the American audience. While the film’s protagonists are two women, it is an autobiographic work for me as it reflects a lot of my personal experiences in my 20s. The film sets in Nakameguro, which is five minutes away from Shibuya by train and where many scenes of “Lost in Translation” were filmed. I have lived in this town for a while, and this is where the two protagonists share an apartment as the story of “Daughters” begins. Though the filming happened pre-pandemic, I think it still conveys the vibe of today’s Tokyo. The film observes how relationships with friends and family change when you are about to have a child. That said, I believe everyone can find their own favorite element in the film, such as life in Tokyo, its unique sceneries, Koharu and Ayano’s apartment, visuals of their memories, costumes, music, and so on. So, enjoy!
