SHIN NAMURA, MEGUMI OKAWARA IN SO BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL AND LOVELYMEGUMI OKAWARA: SO BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL AND LOVELY 素敵すぎて素敵すぎて素敵すぎる (2025) JAPAN CUTS 2025TRAILERReconciliation to lost loveMegumi Okawara is writer, director, editor, and lead actress of this film, her feature directorial debut. It is a quirky, staccato, rapidly edited study of a woman, school cleaner Nozomi Haruta (Megumi Okawara) in the period of a month after she has learned that her partner, her beloved, her soulmate the young teacher Chitose Yokomizo (Shin Namura), has gone and married somebody else. In the opening sequence Nozomi suddenly appears when Yokomizo and his bride and are being photographed outside with the wedding guests. She pushes herself in between the bride and groom in the front of the picture, then grabs the camera and its tripod and runs off.
There is no realistic handling of this event or even the certainty that it actually happens. Yokomizo now appears to Magumi, only he is not Yokomizo but an apparition looking like Yokomizo who calls himself Castella, He is a Castella cake, or a deliverer of one--a popular and historic Japanese sponge cake introduced by the Portuguese in the 16th century, and he wears a piece of castella cake on the lapel of his otherwise crisp and impeccable suit. He will be around, he tells her, until the expiry date of the cake. And that is the time span of the film. At the end of the film, Nozumi will be seen in a vast suburban open space flying a large kite composed of many pieces of castella cake up in the sky in the shape of a giant brassiere. The long bridle of the kite is composed of a string of brassieres. There is a scene in which Nozumi tries on a beautiful, sexy brassiere in a shop called "Brassiere Unlimited."
But Nozumi also plans to take a new job in what appears to be a roadside statiohary shop. (Stationary shops seem to be flourishing in Japan.) The shop is high ceilinged but cluttered. Nozumi interviews for a job there. There's an older man in an overcoat who comes to the stationary shop every day and raises one finger up. That seemes to be asking if there is one new thing at the shop today, but opinions differ about what it means. By the end, staff have made a song whose video is composed of clips of the store CCTV camera showing the man who raised one finger coming in the shop on successive days. This becomes the theme song of the film.
There are also scenes at the school where Nozumi has been cleaner. Wherever she goes Castella appears too, but others do not see him. Nozumi talks about fantasy and dream, at one point seeing everything she wants to be real is a fantasy and everything she wants to be a dream is real. It is odd that the man Nozumi wants to get over with is her companionn as she strives to adjust to her despair over losing him.
This little film is a small phantasmagoria of ideas and scenes relating to it theme of disappointment and reconciliation, also veering off into its own outer space much of the time. I was reminded of Miranda July. The high concepts, like July, risk running tinto terminal tweeness, but when you see the brassiere kite made of castella cakes you know Okawara has flown off into her own space, and you have to respect people who have the courage of their absoutely weird convictions. Probably Michel Gondry would approve. I loved Shin Namura's enunciation, and his enthusiasm. This and Akiko Ohku's
She Taught Me Serendipity , both in the 2025 NYC JAPAN CUTS, are contemporary examples of a variety of contemporary Japanese rom-com. This one is more out-there.
Reviewed in more detail in
Asian Movie Pulse Beautiful, Wonderful and Lovely 素敵すぎて素敵すぎて素敵すぎる (Sutekisugite Sutekisugite Sutekisugiru, "Too nice, too nice") 67 mins., premiered at Osaka March 2025 where it received the Japan Cuts Award. Screened for this review as part of Jul. 10-20 Japan Cuts.
Showtime:
With Director Q&A
July 19, 2025
In parson event
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