Japanese movie audiences become familiar with land that created Moomins

Film director Naoko Ogigami visits Espoo Ciné Film Festival

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By Harri Römpötti
     
      It would be exciting, but it does not happen every day that a Helsinki resident gets a chance to see his or her home town through foreign eyes - at least it is a rare treat if you compare yourself with the residents of Paris or New York. A Japanese film entitled Kamome shokudo aka Kamome Diner aka Ruokala Lokki (in Finnish) gives the locals that chance.
      "During the first days of filming I was really nervous. The Finnish cinematography group appeared slow - in Japan, movies are always made with feverish haste. Once I accepted the rhythm, I was really happy. I realised that along with the slow rhythm, the movie had also taken on a different tone”, director Naoko Ogigami explains.
     
Naoko Ogigami was attendingd the Espoo Ciné Festival, which started last Tuesday.
      Ogigami managed to capture some of the Finnish atmosphere while directing her movie. However, it shows Helsinki from a slightly different angle, thus giving a Finnish spectator a fresh view of the city.
      Kamome Diner depicts three Japanese ladies who meet each other in Helsinki. One of them has opened a small Japanese restaurant by the name of Ruokala Lokki ("The Seagull Diner”) in Helsinki’s district of Punavuori. It is the setting of the movie. Following the success of the film, Kahvila Suomi (”Café Finland”), which represents the diner in the movie, has become a popular sight among Japanese tourists.
      "After checking the audience figures, l learned that some 500,000 people have already seen Kamome shokudo in Japan. It's a very good achievement for an independent movie with such a small budget. I think that the relaxed athmosphere has appealed to the Japanese people, who are always in such a hurry”, Ogigami notes.
     
Previously Ogigami, 34, has directed a family movie entitled Barber Yoshino - aka Yoshino's Barber Shop - and a youth comedy Love Is 5 7 5. Kamome Diner is her first movie aimed at the adult audience.
      On the other hand, even Kamome Diner contains certain childlike features - even a naive quality. Moreover, several references are made to the Moomins, and some of their qualities have apparently been transmitted to the sweet and sensitive film.
      "Really? That’s fine! When I was a child, the Moomins animation was always my favourite on TV. Then I didn’t know that the characters came from Finland. Later on I also read Tove Jansson’s original comic strips, and now I know that the Moomins are white - not pink and light blue”, Ogigami laughs.
      "I never tried to achieve any likeness to the Moomins, but it’s just good, if that’s how it looks. In Finland, it was easy to see from where Jansson got inspiration for her characters and texts", she adds.
     
However, even a pinch of Aki Kaurismäki can be found in Ogigami’s movie. She just loves his films.
      "All the same, Helsinki and the Finns are not as gloomy as the characters in Kaurismäki’s movies", she says now - after many visits to Finland.
      Ogigami’s first contact with Finland took place already as a teen, when a Finnish exchange student was living with the family. However, the idea for a film that would be set in Finland came later from a producer who had visited the country.
      "I got tired of making movies in Japan and wanted to go elsewhere. Before writing the screenplay, I visited Finland several times in various seasons. My producer said that I couldn't write about Helsinki unless I knew what the Finnish winter was like. On the other hand, the movie wouldn't have turned out to be so optimistic if it had been made in the winter", Ogigami explains.
     
Ogigami visited Finland last with her parents in June. She had rented a cottage for their vacation, and all she planned to do was to swim and to go to sauna. However, she also had to drive her parents around the country to visit museums and to see sights.
      Ogigami considers the Finns to be shy and quiet - just like the Japanese, but more relaxed and open. Even the three ladies in the movie, based on Yoko Mure’s novel, learn some of that informality.
      "At first it was very difficult for me to write the screenplay, as I didn't understand what the main characters had in mind. Yoko Mure told me that actually, that wasn't the issue. She said that the women have left behind everything, and therefore they are free and independent. That I could understand, and my writing started to flow", Ogigami concludes.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 23.8.2006
     
The Espoo Ciné XVII International Film Festival was arranged between August 22nd and 27th at the Espoo Cultural Centre, Tapiola (Kaupinkalliontie 10). Kamome Diner was shown at the festival already on August 23rd, while the commercial cinema première will be in Helsinki on September 28th.


Links:
  Naoko Ogigami on the Internet Movie Database
  Kamome Diner

Helsingin Sanomat