Thereare many theories as to how the Asian variety of mock strawberry hebi ichigo (Duchesnea chrysantha) – quite literally “snake strawberry”got its name. The name is so old – theJapanese adopted the name from the Chinese – that no one knows its origin forcertain. This pretty little floweringplant of the rose family is found growing in the wild all over Japan. It resembles a wild strawberry, but disappointswhen eaten for it is bland. Afterwatching Miwa Nishikawa’s debutfeature film Hebi Ichigo (Wild Berries/蛇イチゴ, 2003), I had to think of the English idiom “snake inthe grass”, for in her film the members of the Akechi family are like the hebi ichigo: on the surface they appear as lovely as wildstrawberries but it is all a façade. Infact, the more we learn about their true personalities, the more they appear tobe a den of venomous snakes.
TheAkechi family have mastered the art of tatemae(建前, the publicface one is expected to uphold for the sake of family/work) to such a highdegree that not even other members of the family are aware of each other’s honne (本音, one’s truefeelings and desires). The father,Yoshiro Akechi (Sei Hiraizumi), haslost his job as a salaryman but puts on a pretense of going off to “work” eachday in the desperate hope of finding a job so that he does not lose face withhis family. His wife, Akiko (Naoko Otani) plays the role of dutifulhousewife, taking care of the household and her increasingly senilefather-in-law Kyozo Akechi played with terrific comic timing by the greatrakugo storyteller MatsunosukeShofukutei. Akiko never complains, despitethe fact that her situation has become intolerable.
When their daughter, the straight-laced school teacher Tomoko (MihoTsumiki), brings her boyfriend Kamata (ToruTezuka) home to meet the folks, he is totally taken in by the Akechifamily’s apparent normalcy. Having beenraised in a privileged family of inherited wealth, Kamata thinks that he hasfound a potential wife from the ideal family in which the mother and fatherselflessly sacrifice themselves by working hard for the good of the family. This public façade (tatemae) comes crashing down at the grandfather’s funeral whenone-by-one the members of the Akechi family begin to reveal their true selves (honne). The greatest family secret of all is Tomoko's disowned brother Shuji (Hirayuki Miyasako), the proverbial black sheep of the family, whose unexpected return brings even more chaos.
Onthe surface, this sounds like an absolutely depressing tale, but Nishikawa haswritten a brilliant black comedy on par, in my opinion, with the classic Alec Guinness vehicle Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer,1949). It’s the kind of humour that hasone cringing and laughing at the same time. On the Japanese DVD release of HebiIchigo the acerbic dialogue has been excellently translated by Linda Hoaglund (director of ANPO: Art X War)for the English subtitles. It is rarefor a debut feature film to look and sound so terrific, but Nishikawa wasfortunate to have the guiding hand of HirokazuKoreeda (After Life, Still Walking) as her producer. Not only did the film go on to win Nishikawathe Best New Director award at the 2004 Yokohama Film Festival, but it markedthe beginning of a directorial career that has been brilliant so far with Sway (2006) and Dear Doctor (2009) bringing her much critical praise.
Hebi Ichigo is available via cdjapan:
