The Great Passage

You know that "I really need to see a film about writing a dictionary" shaped hole in your life? Fret no more, as director Yuya Ishii's The Great Passage will see you well. Purposely starting the action in 1995 (when the internet was just about to really kick into bloom) Ishii's film (based on the best selling novel by Shiwon Miura) follows Mitsuya Majime (Ryuhei Matsuda) a shy salesman who catches the attention of a couple of dictionary editors due to his love of reading and eye for detail. He soon finds himself part of an editing team who are determined to produce a new physical dictionary called "The Daitokai" (i.e. The Great Passage), despite their efforts taking place in a time of electronic and social upheaval meaning their work gets less relevant as the years pass. Of course, the film isn't really about just writing a dictionary as it touches of themes of relationships, love, death, society and social class. If you think this all sounds a bit heavy, don't worry it isn't, as Ishii's film has a light touch throughout and even its darker moments are touched with hope. Plus if you're wondering how the film covers such a wide range of topics, lets just say it doesn't take them a week to complete the dictionary. However, that does lead to one of the negative points of the film as it isn't entirely clear what year we're in or how much time has passed as the project progresses (the make up doesn't really work). In addition, for those not used to Japanese humour you'll find a lot lost in translation, especially on the social etiquette front. However, when this does tickle the funny bone, the chuckles are laugh out loud crackers. A charming film, plus this gets an extra point for outrageously cute ginger cat! Rating: 8/10.