The specter of death is often present on screen, but relatively few films make it a central, all-encompassing theme. Naoko Ogigami¡¯s poignantly offbeat ¡°Riverside Mukolitta,¡± which the director scripted from her own novel, ends with the Buddhist message that all deaths, even of the most humble and obscure, matter. That said, the film is not a dressed-up religious parable, though a screen caption explains that the titular ¡°Mukolitta¡± is a ¡°unit of Buddhist time, equal to 1/30th of a day or 48 minutes.¡±
As expected from Ogigami, whose breakout hit was the 2006 dramedy ¡°Kamome Diner,¡± absurdist comedy and humanistic drama take precedence over philosophizing. Certain moments, however, convey a depth of pain and pathos that is new to her work, even though suited to her subject matter, while others are hauntingly surreal.
Her protagonist is Takeshi Yamada (Kenichi Matsuyama), a quiet loner who moves into ¡°Heights Mukolitta,¡± a rundown apartment block by a river, and starts working at a small factory that processes squid into shiokara, a fermented seafood side dish.
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