What We Share

I woke up to yet another rainy day here in Kyoto, so I decided I would go check out this tiny little arthouse cinema hidden away in a narrow market street just a short bike ride from my house. Today I got lucky and the rain waited for me on my ride over. There was a particular film that had caught my eye since I first discovered this little theatre, but I had talked myself out of going on multiple quiet evenings due to either rain or the fact that it was a Korean film with Japanese subtitles.

Something about the theme of the film kept calling me to go. It was an afterlife story. Something about a firefighter who died in a fire saving a life and then he encounters his guardians in the afterlife and they take him on a review of his life as well as a winding adventure to get him to the light on the other side. That was about all I could pick up, but these are themes I am always interested in.

After the usual confusion, I purchased my tickets via the Japanese vending machine. I then waited in line and was escorted with the rest of the group down a flight of stairs into a rather small but very nice movie theatre. It was mostly full by the time the film started.

I first discovered Korean films on my flights to and from Japan a couple of years ago. Although I understood nothing being said in words, the depth of emotion and tear-inducing themes conveyed by the actors were Oscar-worthy. Two films that will l always stay with me are “Little Forest” and “Her Love Boils Water”. I think the title of the second film got a little lost in translation, but it was one of the most gut-wrenching films I have ever watched.

The film I saw today was called “Along With the Gods” and I didn’t understand a single word, but I got everything. Even though my attention was half drawn to the Japanese Kanji at the bottom of the screen, this film drew me in, just as the others had. It was a tour de force for the heart, for sure. At several points in the film, as I was choking back tears myself, I couldn’t help but notice virtually that everyone else in the theatre fighting their tears, and many were losing.

I was struck by this experience, as the Japanese as a culture are extremely reserved and do not tend to be expressive with emotions. I can often see it in the faces of women I pass by. You can see there is so much behind their eyes that has been carefully tucked away in keeping with the norm. As I watched this film and everyone was sniffling and wiping their tears, it seemed like there was a freedom in the dark to purge the system of tears. I was reminded in this moment that beneath our words and beneath our languages and beneath whatever cultural upbringing we come from, at the core we are all the same. We are each souls navigating the themes of love and loss and life and death what it all means.

It was a profound experience that made me feel less foreign here and reminded me of what I have in common with each of these people around me, regardless of what gets lost in our words and the differences in what we look like.