Goodbye, Someday

As my title implies, this is a kind of a complicated movie with an extremely simple plot. A man marries one woman but loves another. I suppose it's how it happens that makes or breaks the movie. Korean director Lee became known in Japan for his Korean-made film hit, "The Eraser in my Head," a story of a young woman with a case of early-age Altzheimer's and her lover-then-husband who is always there for her. In both movies, one is strongly encouraged to not think about the details, but rather the dynamics between the characters involved. In "Sayonara," most of which takes place in Bangkok in 1975 among a small Japanese community and their Thai friends, one gets the impression that we are not supposed to think about the why or how, but the what. Who is Touko, the mysterious older woman who seems to have an unlimited amount of money at her disposal? Why does Yutaka, working as an expat for an airline, live in a apartment seemingly for lower income Thai folks when he should be rich by local standards? How old is he, for cryin' out loud? He is obviously over 30, but just got engaged and is a freshman employee. Why does he have a body like Bruce Lee?? Why does Touko fly back to New York merely at Mitsuko's (Yutaka's fiancée) bequest? And what business does she have in New York? Why should Yutaka's son become a rock star?? None of the above is ever explained, but it all makes for a sumptuous and sexy movie, obviously Lee's intent. It starts out rather slowly, but the superb acting of the well- known actors draws the viewer in rather craftily. Surprisingly we are taken 25 years into the future to be shown that Touko and Yutaka haven't forgotten each other, but the movie would just have well ended in 1975. But with Nishijima as Yutaka and Nakayama as Touko, nobody's complaining.