Dear Etranger

Single on Sunday can drag
So I took myself back to Chester for Soup and a film


The only thing I fancied was an unsentimental, unidealized look at the problems faced by a blended family in modern day Japan which proved to be an interesting look at the culture of the country as well as giving us an objective view of a family in crisis.

Makoto ( Tadandobu Asano) is a forty something executive living in a tiny mountainside apartment with his rather bland second wife and two step daughters. He sees his real daughter just four times a year and starts to struggle emotionally with his roles as father and step father after being demoted and humiliated at work and finding out that he is expecting another child, news that has huge ramifications for his blended family members.

This is an interesting film that underplays the drama  rather beautifully. For two hours the audience watches the interactions of this damaged family , with all of the good and bad, deftly and clumsily handled moments by all and as in real life we see no baddies and no goodies.....just ordinary people struggling with their emotions, ghosts and regrets.

Not a happy movie.......but not an unhappy one either
Rather like real life....

The message murals on the curved Art Deco walls on the staircase of the Storyhouse in chester

Lunch.....I hate it when people photograph their fully laden plates
Food is for eating

40 comments:

  1. An empty plate is a real puzzle.

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  2. Sorry John, dearheart - I often show what I am about to eat - I shall not do it again - just the empty plate in future I promise. x

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    1. Weaver, please don't stop taking photos. I love seeing what you and your friends eat.

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  3. I take photos of the Japanese food because so many times it is so beautiful. A story on the plate. I miss it.
    Son has lived in Japan forever so I like to send photos of some of his favorite dishes he doesn't get and he teases me with the food I can't find here.

    cheers, parsnip

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  4. I wonder if it was a lovely warming sponge pudding?
    You don't normally mention sweet food though, perhaps a warming winter treat.
    It's not the Sunday Times either.

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    1. I think it was
      The meal was soup......I had to send it back as it was cold

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  5. Have you got yourself a new camera?

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  6. How come your bar code is so different?
    And the picture?
    770956138171 is on my copy.

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    1. No idea ..I didn't read it it was lying on my table

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  7. You've got a contraband Irish copy because 'THEY're' testing out the backstop :)

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  8. It looks like it was a lovely cream soup of some type. (after it was re-warmed of course) There's a new blog game for you - name what the food was on this plate.

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    1. Let me get past the postcard s
      I've had three hundred plus

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  9. I'm glad to read that you are taking yourself out when you feel like it. That's very positive!

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  10. Name that dish, kind of like my "name that airport." Fred is a good name for that dish.

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  11. Yes, I should do that more often. I go out once a week, meeting 2 friends for a snack lunch on a Thursday. The rest of the week I stay in my dressing gown and read or see who's around in my laptop. Not healthy and a bad habit to fall into. Must do better.

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    1. Yes....push it........make the effort.......I'm tired of giving up

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    2. Yes! I WILL. Thank you, John.

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  12. I take pictures of food often as it serves as kind of a recipe file for things we made and enjoyed at home. Totally don't get photographing food I paid for.
    Maybe pastries get a pass?

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  13. Barbara Anne11:23 pm

    I would have guessed potato-leek soup as I don't care for mushrooms but love potato -leek.

    Am considering sending another postcard as the first one seems to have gone walkabout or is at the bottom of some postal container somewhere. Perhaps it will arrive tomorrow? That could happen. :)

    Hugs!

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  14. I love it when people photograph their fully laden plates! You have the most interesting variety of food there - I'd like to see what you're eating!

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    1. One bowl one spoon. He said he had soup. hope that helps you Ruth

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  15. I wish there were more movies and shows that understood that people aren't generally all good or all bad. I think they're a little better about realizing that - or realizing that audiences can deal with it - than in part times. I mean, shows like Breaking Bad and Walking Dead pretty much get their material from that sort of thing, and if I watched reality programming, I'll bet some of that does, too.

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  16. I like the quote. Too often I wait for these things to happen. I still have to allow myself to initiate things and feel this not a failure.

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  17. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  18. Food is as much for the eyes as the stomach. A full plate makes us excited; an empty one (hopefully) makes us sad!

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  19. We tried Can You Ever Forgive Me yesterday afternoon. Sadly, the answer would be no...

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  20. On my Instagram I see loads of plates of food, ofter home made and just looking brown,I agree with you, just eat it.

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  21. Ha!
    The empty plate is the coolest anti-FOMO demonstration I've seen to date!
    You're one of a kind.

    xoxo

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  22. I don't get photographing food either, the way a dish looks has no bearing on it's taste and food is most definitely for eating. But, yet again I suppose I am at odds with the rest of the world.

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  23. I do photograph food just to send to my daughter if it's really good with the promise of taking her there when she comes on vacation but than I delete it after.

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  24. I like the photo of the empty plate - and presumably a satisfied stomach. Photos of fully laden plates may look good, but you can't take photos of the taste. Who knows, those delicious-looking meals may have tasted vile?

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  25. My son and his wife and their little boy are at this moment flying to Japan to visit the in laws :)
    Too bad they can't bring back something to eat :)

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