Embracing

One of the reasons Naomi Kawase wanted to make films was to find answers to fundamental questions. Why do I exist? Who am I? These were the concerns that preoccupied her as an adopted child being brought up by her great-uncle and great-aunt, whom she refers to as “Grandpa” and “Grandma.”

This early film by the director revolves around the search for her father, whom she never knew because he left when she was little. Naomi’s adoptive mother Uno discourages her from trying to find this man, claiming that he’s both a stranger and a bad person, but Naomi goes ahead anyway. She finds her birth certificate and goes searching for information about her father. Right up to the moment when she calls him, she has doubts about whether she really wants to meet him after all.

Kawase combines home movies and handheld footage of her surroundings, but she also points the camera at herself. The overlapping projected images of her face as she desperately searches for her identity are particularly powerful.