It's been a little while since I travelled to my next film destination and on a rainy Sunday afternoon I decied that a quirky comedy from Japan was the right choice.
Haname thinks she's curses. Ever since her father left her and her mother and she everything he ever gave her into a swamp. The last image of a good luck cat waving goodbye haunts her. When her magazine she writes for closes and her mother ends up in a coma she finds a letter revealing her real father. She searches for him. Now calling himself Light Bulb he is an junk shop owner. She also meets punk rocker Gus and a lady seeking an unusual machine that predicts your future partner and mysterious family vault. Haname's mini adventures make her change and inspires her own shop and even her own instant swamp.
A strange tale about a woman over coming her curse and skeptical view on life. She goes through some difficult times but comes out covered in mud on the other which is a good thing for this story.
Haname's journey is really about self discovery but not told in a cliché way. She appreciates the odd things in life and finds beauty in a rusty nail but eventually opens her mind and heart and beats her own curse. A great film from Satoshi Miki, makes me want to seek more of his work.
Look out for the next destination!