The Families Portrayed by Yoji Yamada
Family has always been deeply rooted as a theme in Yoji Yamada's work. The It's Tough Being a Man series portrayed the warm relationship between Tora-san and his family in Shibamata, while his other films have also continued depicting families carefully.
The Yellow Handkerchief (1977) and the What a Wonderful Family! series, beginning in 2016, deserve particular attention for portraying family from different perspectives. The former addresses family renewal, the latter family reality. Through their individual views of family, we will explore the messages Yamada wanted to convey.
The Yellow Handkerchief: Family Renewal and Hope
The Yellow Handkerchief is a representative Yamada film and a road movie released in 1977. It follows newly released prisoner Yusaku Shima, played by Ken Takakura, traveling with two young strangers toward his former wife, played by Chieko Baisho.
The film moves viewers because it explores the deep theme of family renewal beyond romance or reunion. Carrying his past mistakes, Yusaku secretly hopes to begin again with his family. He asks his wife to display a yellow handkerchief if she is waiting, and his journey toward its endpoint profoundly affects viewers.
The climactic image of countless yellow handkerchiefs fluttering in the wind is one of Japanese cinema's memorable scenes. Through the film, Yamada conveyed a hopeful message that people can reclaim family bonds whatever their past.
What a Wonderful Family!: Real Problems Facing Contemporary Families
Released in 2016, What a Wonderful Family! focuses on family problems in contemporary Japan. A comedy about an older retired couple's upheaval over an unexpected late-life divorce, it reveals a variety of issues facing Japanese families today.
The Hiratas are an ordinary middle-class family, but the husband, Shuzo, played by Isao Hashizume, has forgotten to appreciate his family, and his wife Tomiko, played by Kazuko Yoshiyuki, feels she has reached her limit in their marriage. The film portrays real domestic challenges in contemporary Japan: gaps between private feelings and public appearances, generational differences between parents and children, and issues arising in an aging society.
Where The Yellow Handkerchief portrays family renewal, What a Wonderful Family! humorously depicts family reality. Alongside warmth, Yamada realistically expresses problems and frustrations unique to family life, asking audiences what family means.
Family Forms Change, but What Matters Remains
Although both films address family, their historical settings and approaches differ greatly. What they share is the importance of family connection.
The Yellow Handkerchief depicts overcoming a past in which family was lost and recovering those bonds. What a Wonderful Family! comically portrays often-hidden frustrations and clashes while conveying that families are not easily broken.
Perhaps Yamada's films tell us that even as family arrangements change with the times, their essential connections never do.
Conclusion: The Appeal of Yamada's Family Films
Yamada realistically depicts both the warmth and difficulties of family. The Yellow Handkerchief expresses hope through family renewal, while What a Wonderful Family! portrays contemporary family problems with humor and realism.
Family can be troublesome, with misunderstandings and conflict, yet remains a place to return to and a source of mutual support. Watching Yamada's films can renew our sense of its importance.
Watch these two films and reflect on your own family relationships.
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