By Natalie Gregory
Some movies do not need to be so long. Ryosuke Hashiguchi’s All Around Us feels a little like that. One of the installments in this year’s San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, it’s mainly about a couple in the 1990s who aren’t all that in love, but come to care for one another. A few key things happen that guide the story: they have a baby who dies in infancy, which sparks a depression in Shoko, the wife. Kanao, the husband, gets a job as a courtroom sketch artist, witnessing the real life trials that occurred in the nineties. The crimes are bizarre and fucked up.
As far as representing the progression of a relationship, this film nails it. There’s a moment mid-way through the film where Shoko breaks down and expresses her frustration with Kanao’s inability to communicate. It’s a semi-climactic scene. Before this, they truly don’t communicate very much. At least not very well. Anyway, the argument ends with a better understanding between the two. Kanao says he wants to kiss her, but instead he wipes the snot from her face (she’s been crying). It’s actually pretty romantic. It feels like we are witnessing an intimate moment, something real and connected.
