Direction: Christopher Makoto Yogi
Country: USA
This low-key drama about aging and death is marked by a profound melancholy. Honolulu-born director Christopher Makoto Yogi makes a painful moment seem positively reflective through compassion, forgiveness and inner healing.
Expanding his short film Obake (2011), the filmmaker tells the story of Masao (Steve Iwamoto), a quiet Hawaiian man with a past of addiction and indifference in response to loss. Gravely sick, Masao, who yearns for tradition and simplicity under the onslaught of modernism, prepares himself for his departure on his deathbed as he's watched by members of his family. His estranged eldest daughter, Kati (Chanel Akiko Hirai) and his grandson, Gavin (Kanoa Goo), take turns staying at his place, making sure he gets what he needs. But they’re not the only ones around; the spirit of his beloved, long-gone wife, Grace (Constance Wu), is also there, helping him to cope with guilt.
The story unfurls slowly, combining the meditative lyricism of the present with flashbacks from a more ebullient past. Both the dreamy tones and sluggish pace can become an obstacle for some viewers, but the life-affirming statement delivered overcomes the lack of dynamism. The Oahu’s landscape in the background only increases the film’s serene composure, which is in keeping with its main character's secluded state of affairs, and mind.
Life choices and mortality; acceptance and repentance; family roots and branches; the earthly and the spiritual… “Dying isn’t simple, is it?”, asks the spirit of Masao’s wife. I Was a Simple Man is honest enough to deserve a peek.
