‘Great Absence’ Review – Sins Of The Fathers Carried By The Sons

Like the works of Florian Zeller, Kei Chika-ura’s latest film Great Absence is a family drama centered on what is not being said in a story, rather than the entire history of a particular character, or their dynamic with other characters.

The film follows Takashi, a struggling actor who reconnects with his father, Yohji, after years of abandonment. While dealing with his father’s dementia, Takashi tries to find his father’s second wife, whose whereabouts are unknown. 

Chika-ura’s 35mm film camera is steady and grounded. It frames the actions and the film beautifully and firmly, like a statement. It limits the characters and traps them within their thoughts and personal confinements. 

The film relies on digging into past traumas to uncover the present. Takashi faces a difficult past to solve a present mystery, tackling themes such as parental negligence, mortality, memory, and the meaning of family. Yohji is in his blissfully forgetful world, oscillating between truth and detachment from reality. He is an unreliable narrator of his history, creating a compelling plot that does not rely on one voice but a myriad of clashing inputs from different characters who are not necessarily rooting for one another.

It’s obvious how careful the director has been in tying the script with his personal story with Eugène Ionesco’s play “Exit the King” that the theater workshop scene revolved around. In this play, a hostile, aggressive king has lost his power to control his surroundings and order his people into obedience, the kingdom is crumbling and he is dying. Using this as a parallel storyline, Yohji the oppressive, distant figure from Takashi’s painful past is losing his mind, and his kingdom – his house and belongings – is crumbling. At the same time, his estranged son Takashi tries to make sense of newly generated feelings toward a father he has never been able to connect with.

One of the standout elements of this feature is the performances. Tatsuya Fuji as Yohji provides a brilliant, award-worthy performance, no less than Anthony Hopkins in The Father. He plays Yohji as a man grounded in its intensity and hopelessness but with an underlying coy sense of humor that only a man of his age and experience can exhibit. Yoko Maki, as Takashi’s wife Yuki, is a breath of fresh air, delicate and subtle at the same time, she brings joy every minute she is on screen to a rather grim film.

Some films restore the passion for writing about art. Great Absence is one of them. But it’s not just the performances or the camera work or the masterful direction, but rather the thin thread interwoven between familial generations, tying works of art with personal tragedy, and supporting self-expression in filmmaking as a medium, spacious and generous enough to contain a multitude of tragedies.

Great Absence is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of GAGA Corporation in association with Picturehouse.