Grüße aus Fukushima (2016)

	Also Known As: Greetings from Fukushima, Fukushima mon amour
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Doris Dörrie
	Actors: Rosalie Thomass, Kaori Momoi
	Country: D
	Genre: Drama, Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 07.03.2016, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview
Synopsis: A young German woman Marie (Thomass) arrives in Japan with the will to help the victims of the nuclear plant accident of Fukushima consequence of an earthquake in 2011. She is clown. As she does not catch with the Japanese people, she tries to quit. And meets then an elderly Japanese woman Satomi (Momoi) with whom she sets a tight relationship.
Review: Usually there is no German movie in the Schauburg Sneak Preview, but as the main language is broken English, it fits to the concept. I wanted to watch it anyway. On the 11.03.2011 Japan experienced an earthquake producing a giant tsunami on the East coast, in particular in the region of Fukushima. The nuclear plants of the region were not safe enough to survive it and Fukushima is a major nuclear desaster like Chernobyl (Ukraine) or Three Mile Island (Pennsylvania).  The story is on one side the experience of Thomass to recover from a personal desaster in helping people and on the other side the documentary view on the scenery. The movie is also deep in the Japanese culture by setting human-ghosts relationships in normal life, by giving a picture of the closed and sophisticated traditional Japanese culture and by making us familiar with one Geisha. From that point of of view, I loved the movie. This whole of Japan is fascinating and beautiful.  The movie is shot in black&white enhancing the intimacy and the contrasts. The intimacy of Marie with Satomi, their intimacy with us. The intimacy of Japan with us. The contrasts of scenery in that part of Japan, of feelings in that German woman and that Japanese woman. The directing is very clever for that.  The casting fits to authenticity. No top models. Really normal people for a story aiming at showing normal life like a documentary.  I believe I slightly overrate the movie because the topic is important to me.
Rating: 8 /10