Sweet Red Bean Paste

An (literally 'Sweet Red Bean Paste') is a 2015 japanese drama by Naomi Kawase staring Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase and Kyara Uchida. The story is centred around a dorayaki (a kind of japanese pastry containing sweet red bean paste, hence the title) shop in Tokyo which is really different and imediately appealing, especially to a western audience. On top of this it is very accessible and suits any age and type of audience.

It follows the lives of three main characters; Sentaro (mainly reffered as Sen or 'boss' throughout the film), a middle aged man who runs a small dorayaki shop, Tokue, a lady in her mid-seventies who claimes that she has dreamt of working in a dorayaki shop her whole life and Wakana, a teenage girl who is a frequent customer of the shop. These very different people come together to build an unexpected friendship and strong bond based around their problems and extreme loneliness.

Despite a few scenes which felt slightly out of place An is interesting portrayal of the problems with japanese society. Although its main focus is the Leprosy Prevention Act of 1953, the segregation the lepers had to go through and the complication they have re-entering society it touches on other themes present in japanese society. The hard working culture of Japan is shown in this film aswell as alcoholism, mental health problems and loneliness this attitude can cause. It is a film embracing the outsiders of society.

What I particularly enjoyed is that it wasn't attacking japanese culture. It was pointing out its flaws but also embracing its advantages. The scenery and images in An are so aesthetically pleasing. It portays Japan as a beautiful country and the japanese as very close to nature, which happens to mirror the main religions shintoism and buddhism. The mentions to nature in this film are almost impossible to count. One of my favourite scenes was when Sentaro and Wakana were visiting Tokue in the area where lepers were sent which is completely isolated from society. As they are walking through the trees and flowers they are completely enchanted by the silence.

An is full of moments which will make you smile and laugh and cry. It takes alot for me to say this but I loved every aspect of this film. I loved that it didn't contain all those annoying stereotypes films tend to have. The character developpement, acting, themes and messages were superb. It was clear, simple and easy to watch and I urge you to go see it too!

Tame Impala at Forest National Brussels

I remember years ago watching the highlights of Pukkelpop festival on tv and a weird band came by. They were dressed in their best Olivia Newton John outfit, ready to give aerobics to the people on the field. If my memory isn’t failing me that band was Tame Impala. Now we’re about 5 years later and instead of playing the smallest tent at the festival and walking around freely on the festival without people throwing themselves at their feet they are bigger than ever. With their latest album “Currents” they even got airplay on the commercial radio stations. They came a long way and yesterday they played an almost sold out show in Brussels. After apparently smashing it at Pukkelpop, without any spectacular outfit choices, they came back to convince the people that couldn’t make it last summer.

Opening that night ware fellow Australians Jagwar Ma. You could describe them as the rebellious little brother of Tame Impala who stole their record collection but still wanted to be different so they threw in an extra dose of electronics. They trio already scored high on some indie list with their debut album a couple of years ago but playing for such a big crowd who is unfamiliar with your work can make everyone look bad. Opener “Man I need” was supposed to be the start of a great dance party but i wasn’t. They had 45 minutes to convince the crowd but Belgians are difficult people to please. Last two songs “Come save me” and “The throw” got the ‘ooh yeah I know that song’-nod from the people who took their time to look up some songs before coming to Forest National. Anyway, I’m still waiting for their next album and look forward to seeing them again in a more intimate setting. Until then I’m just going to polish my dancing shoes.

My expectations for the night weren’t that high since I’m not too familiar with Kevin and co.’s discography. I’ve known them from their first album, back to their aerobics time, but  never got into them besides the basic ‘knowing the singles’ kind of thing. The green gun sight came on the screen, the lights went out and the crowd went mad. For like 5 seconds and then the lights came back on. A joke once in a while is appreciated but you honestly can’t play with people’s feelings like that! The last roadie in white lab coat ran off stage and then we knew it was really time for the show to start. Take 2: lights out, crowd cheering and our favourite Australians of the moment walked on stage.

After the intro hit number one “Let it happen” proved to be a good song for the next karaoke night. Followed by other sing-along hits “Mind mischief” and “Why won’t they talk to me?” it was going to be a promising night with a lot of confetti. “The moment” kind of disappeared into the big venue and before we realised what they were playing the song was almost over. Maybe they sound tech people still need to get used to playing in bigger venues as well? “Elephant” was supposed to be my highlight of the evening but sounded chaotic. Watching the visuals and dancing along to some unrecognizable sounds in the distance was not how I imagined it.

Their latest album “Currents” is by far the most popular album they have and we can see that in their setlist. Songs like “The less I know better” has been played a lot on the radio and the ‘ahahahahaaaaaah’ from “Eventually” or the chorus from “Cause I’m a man” were catchy enough to sing along. Eventhough we sometimes just want the people next to you to scream a bit less, definitely in such a big venue where the sound floats off before it hits you.

For the rather short encore they opened with “Feels like we only go backwards” from their previous album “Lonerism”, which can be classified as a golden oldie. The last 10 minutes of doing weird dancing and trying to look cool ended with “new person, same old mistakes”, some of you might know it as “Same ol’ mistakes” from Rihanna’s newest album. Not the end I expected but oh well, I’m not going to complain. I had a lovely evening with some nice looking people and now I don’t have to spend an entire fortune to see them play at Rock Werchter festival this summer. Only pro’s if you ask me!