Japan Cuts XVIII Review: In PROMISED LAND, Subversive Austere Drama Takes The Scenic Route
Masashi Iijima’s documentary experience in 2023’s “Matagi” comes handy for his latest follow up which makes the festival rounds this year. Thus, we get Promised Land, starring Rairu Sugita and Kanchiro Sato, along with core performances by Masaki Miura, Kaoru Kobayashi, and Kiyohiko Shibukawa.
The quintet play a group of community hunters who now find themselves in a bind when a federal order prohibits them from going out bear hunting due to the diminishing bear population. In defiance against the group’s leader, Shimoyama (Kobayashi), Rei (Sato) goes maverick and brings Shimoyama’s son and farmhand, Nobu (Sugita), along for their secret hunt.
The catch? Nobu is about as disinterested as one could get when it comes to hunting, so much so that he doesn’t have the same appetite as Rei does, or any real appeal to join Rei given Rei’s own personal marital woes and secrets. Nonetheless, Nobu reluctantly finds himself obligated as a return of favor to Rei for saving his life years ago.
It’s at this point that Promised Land begins its scenic journey that spends most of its lean ninety-minute runtime capturing the surrounding snow-driven wilderness in which our protagonists tread. The film is a quiet, cerebral drama that relies primarily on much of Iijima’s documentarial aesthetics and minimal dialogue with core character moments occurring few and far between.
As the film progresses well into the second half, you’re inclined to take your own approach to the character development here. The chemistry between Nobu and Rei is pretty terse from the start, although the two finally manage to attain a small moment of levity once the deed is done.
Some of that levity extends to a major scene where Rei, who works as a gardening landscaper, talks about an experience he had working for someone who envies him, and finalities about our pursuits in life. By the end of the film, you might be able to see the dichotomy between the two, which coalesces things in a final scene they share with each other.
Promised Land weaves its emphasis on coming-of-age themes into a picturesque backdrop that plays plentifully on Iijima’s current strengths here. Not a bad start for a first time director, and I’m sure that arthouse audiences will find something interesting and nourishing to take away from this latest narrative freshman effort.
Promised Land enjoyed its New York Theatrical Premiere as part of the 18th edition of Japan Cuts Festival Of New Japanese Film.
