Mori, The Artist’s Habitat(HKAFF 2018)

Udine Far East Film Festival

Tokyo International Film Festival

Japanese painter and calligrapher Kumagai Morikazu (1880-1977) gets the biopic treatment in an unusual and subtly entertaining fashion. Mori depicts a single day in the life of the aged and agoraphobic Kumagai as he patiently observes flora and fauna in his backyard garden. Occasionally he receives requests from a parade of awestruck visitors, or interacts with his understanding wife, but before long it’s back to watching bugs in the garden for Kumagai – that is, unless a nearby housing development permanently blocks his sunlight. Less a biopic than an observational satire on the prickly relationship between artists and ‘normiesʼ, this dryly amusing work from director Okita Shuichi is an odd and delightful gem.