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Mar 14, 2016 By J.A. Kordosh Web Exclusive

Naomi Kawase’s Sweet Bean is a tidy, sentimental film about two eternal themes: outcasts and pancakes. The film follows Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase), a morose cook who finds little pleasure in running a tiny dorayaki shop. Despite his somberness, he has the sympathy of Wakana (Kyara Uchida) a poor student with a troubled, possibly alcoholic mother. Nagase and Uchida play their outsider roles with capable understatement and provide a lovely contrast to Kirin Kiki’s buoyant septuagenarian, Tokue.

Tokue applies to be Sentaro’s assistant at the shop but is rebuffed twice by the skeptical cook. After tasting her incredible sweet bean paste, however, he has no choice but to bring her on. Tokue has a whimsical, Amelie-esque view of the world, as she listens “for the stories the beans tell” that should endear all but the most cynical of minds. Her joy of cooking begins to uplift Sentaro and the shop itself is enlivened and busier than ever.

There is, of course, a complication to Tokue’s presence that threatens the entire enterprise and her employment there. Sentaro’s struggle with this difficulty is touching and well portrayed. Without revealing too much, Tokue is the ultimate outsider and that makes her desire to connect with others, if only by selling them pancakes, all the more poignant.

The film has no overreaching ambitions, no epic reveals. It tells a simple story and tells it well. Sweet Bean is a respite from special-effect sodden blockbusters and cookie-cutter dramas and a delightful reminder about life’s modest joys.

www.kinolorber.com/film.php?id=2265

Author rating: 7.5/10