In the awful and pretentious queer rom-com film directed by Peter Paige The Thing About Harry, the titular character constantly appears and disappears from the narrative and still has a happy ending with an equally emotionally manipulative partner. As of writing, it has a 100% positive rating in Rotten Tomatoes. Disgusting.
But of course, Rikiya Imaizumi's 2020 film His is far from that. A continuation of the 5-episode His ～恋するつもりなんてなかった～ (His: I Didn't Think I'd Fall In Love), Shun Igawa and Nagisa Hibino had lived together in their college years until Nagisa decided he wants a heteronormative lifestyle, far from the assertiveness he showed in the series. He marries a woman and has a child with her, and then they get a divorce. He locates Shun in the countryside and travels there with his daughter.
That's where the film begins, 5 minutes in.
This film was terrorising. I had been so hyped for Imaizumi's film ever since the series, and it is surprising to know both have the same writer and director. But a 2nd and 3rd viewing cannot change my mind. Or maybe it will. This criticism, I am confident, is not in the lens of a consumer of Western liberal queer media, and the film arguably may not hold true to queer narratives in Japan. Moreover, women are once again casualties to forwarding the gay agenda in a poorly-written script.
Back to the story.
As Nagisa and his daughter arrived, Shun's reaction was minimal and timid, as if a cause of trauma arrived and he is left in a stupor. There are hints of him adjusting his life for them, such as when he installs a heater when he had been relying on burning wood to heat the bathwater. But the reason could be much simpler, that his method needed fixing. Nagisa hopes to stay for a little while in Shun's residence, and 'a little while' goes on for months. Eventually in act 2, the mother arrives to fetch her daughter. Nagisa shows potential for domestic violence, I am half kidding. By act 3, we delve into a bit of courtroom drama featuring lawyers with weak arguments.
The problem starts with Nagisa's arrival. Are we expected to accept this narrative at face value? What happens to the peace Shun found for himself in the absence of Nagisa? Perhaps he is taking his time to assess the situation and emotionally cope with it as an emotionally-scarred person, and we can leave the analysis at that. But it remains: since when did Shun consent to raising a child with Nagisa? Nagisa was definitely out of bounds; emotionally manipulative, he never asked for Shun's opinions.
When Shun finally raises these concerns, of how Nagisa is presumptive of Shun’s acceptance, the warranted monologue was absent, and a child becomes a tool to rationalise Nagisa's actions. And what of their economic situation? I rarely see their jobs or income-generating activities come into play. How does it affect their interaction? The way they live with a little girl? What does Shun feel with Nagisa staying longer than he should be? Nothing has been said and done. It lacks nuance from the generic Following The Norm conflict. Dialogue's lacklustre and stating the obvious. Definitely no personal voice to the characters; it is the writer speaking.
There should have been more scenes included in-between sequences. The story lacked needed substance or buildup. Ciswomen fawning over handsome gay men --- women are once again portrayed as unreasonable hindrances in the lives of closeted gay men.
Act 3's courtroom drama should not have happened. If essential to the narrative, then the first two acts should have focused on their domestic life building up to the trial proper. But Shun's perspective is limited, their family dynamic not expounded, and guess what happened in the end? The responsibility of taking care of the little girl was passed on to the mother who fought hard to gain custody, and she was degraded for her work-life struggle which, for the sake of the plot, turned her toxic and neglectful.
The open-minded townspeople had better writing than the couple.
Score is 3/5, for the sake of His ～恋するつもりなんてなかった～. Watch it instead and nevermind the movie.
(All-encompassing message: Let Queer People Tell Queer Stories)
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