Border Line
Encyclopedia
Border Line is a 2002 drama film
, and the feature film debut of Korean-Japanese
film director
Sang-il Lee
. It observes the lives of three un-related characters, a son, a father and a mother, each of whom has a troubled family background.
The film is largely a character study, structured in a style of a Robert Altman
movie, showing a number of different sub-plots unfold over the course of a few days. The shooting-style adopted is often similar to that of Yasujiro Ozu
.
The cast includes Tetsu Sawaki
(Shuji Matsuda, the 17 year old high school student), Yumi Asou
(Aikawa, the convenience store clerk), Ken Mitsuishi (the middle-aged yakuza
), and Jun Murakami
(Kurosawa, the taxi driver).
Aikawa is a convenience store clerk with a son at elementary school and a husband who has abandoned the family after losing his job. Her son fakes illness to avoid school. She later discovers that he is being bullied. She becomes increasingly stressed by financial and family worries, and eventually attempts a bank robbery
and kidnaps one of her son's bullies to teach him a lesson.
The middle-aged Yakuza finds that his partner has stolen his boss's money to pay for an operation for his daughter. He is given one week to find his partner and recover the money. He finds and reluctantly executes him, only to steal the money himself and give it to the widow.
He saves Matsuda from suicide, and, recognizing another troubled person on the run, invites him to stay with him at the deserted house he is using. The pair form a friendship like father and son. However, the gangsters track him down and kill him.
Matsuda goes to Hakodate, Hokkaido to trace the Yakuza's estranged daughter, now earning money as a prostitute.
At the end of the film, Kurosawa appears in Hokkaido, carrying a middle-aged female passenger in his taxi. She meets Matsuda on the beach. She may be his mother.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
, and the feature film debut of Korean-Japanese
Zainichi Korean
Koreans in Japan are the ethnic Korean residents of Japan. They currently constitute the second largest ethnic minority group in Japan. The majority of Koreans in Japan are Zainichi Koreans, also often known as Zainichi for short, who are the permanent ethnic Korean residents of Japan...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Sang-il Lee
Sang-il Lee
Lee Sang-il is a Zainichi Korean film director and screenwriter. His first film Chong was a short film about the lives of third generation Koreans living in Japan....
. It observes the lives of three un-related characters, a son, a father and a mother, each of whom has a troubled family background.
The film is largely a character study, structured in a style of a Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
movie, showing a number of different sub-plots unfold over the course of a few days. The shooting-style adopted is often similar to that of Yasujiro Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
.
The cast includes Tetsu Sawaki
Tetsu Sawaki
Tetsu Sawaki is a Japanese actor. Sawaki was born in Osaka, Japan.-Filmography:* Bright Future * Border Line * Ashita wa kitto * Gaichu...
(Shuji Matsuda, the 17 year old high school student), Yumi Asou
Yumi Asou
is a Japanese actress. She is a niece of singer Chiyo Okumura. Her husband is Toshiya Nagasawa.She was born in Osaka Prefecture but grew up in Nagasaki Prefecture. She graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University.-Selected filmography:...
(Aikawa, the convenience store clerk), Ken Mitsuishi (the middle-aged yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
), and Jun Murakami
Jun Murakami
is a Japanese actor. He was given a Best Supporting Actor award at the 2001 Yokohama Film Festival.-Selected filmography: is a Japanese actor. He was given a Best Supporting Actor award at the 2001 Yokohama Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
(Kurosawa, the taxi driver).
Plot
The film opens with Matsuda being uncooperative at school. We learn via a radio broadcast that he then murders his father and runs away on his bike. The next morning a drunken Kurosawa runs him over in his taxi. Feeling guilty about the accident, he is soon driving Matsuda to northern Japan. Matsuda remains uncommunicative and unfriendly.Aikawa is a convenience store clerk with a son at elementary school and a husband who has abandoned the family after losing his job. Her son fakes illness to avoid school. She later discovers that he is being bullied. She becomes increasingly stressed by financial and family worries, and eventually attempts a bank robbery
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
and kidnaps one of her son's bullies to teach him a lesson.
The middle-aged Yakuza finds that his partner has stolen his boss's money to pay for an operation for his daughter. He is given one week to find his partner and recover the money. He finds and reluctantly executes him, only to steal the money himself and give it to the widow.
He saves Matsuda from suicide, and, recognizing another troubled person on the run, invites him to stay with him at the deserted house he is using. The pair form a friendship like father and son. However, the gangsters track him down and kill him.
Matsuda goes to Hakodate, Hokkaido to trace the Yakuza's estranged daughter, now earning money as a prostitute.
At the end of the film, Kurosawa appears in Hokkaido, carrying a middle-aged female passenger in his taxi. She meets Matsuda on the beach. She may be his mother.