Third Window Films have again given us a slice of modern Japanese cinema with ZOKKI. Weaving five interconnected stories, helmed by three directors and starring one old man as the narrator. He wants to impart knowledge to his rather unschooled grown-up granddaughter. She wants to know about secrets and he is going to share some. This sets up a hypnotic mix of THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH and CANTERBURY TALES. The former wanted to tell equally absurdist stories, where its protagonist is possibly a party to. The latter is a series of moral tales with unexpected feasts of disparate people. ZOKKI seamlessly bunches both together and then adds to these themes of youth, conformity and keeping hope together, with storytelling. The stories are simple enough. From a quiet loner seeking self-discovery on his bike, with a fisherman who he encounters. To a school friendship which turns awkward, after one friend becomes infatuation with an older sibling. Moving swiftly to a boy and his father who have very different ideas about how to enjoy themselves and finishing with a friendship between two neighbours that revolves around, well them sharing a series of notes. All to inform his gran daughter of the world outside.

ZOKKI delights in laying out its stall very early on. This is not a usual anthology of stories and nor is it going to be fantastical, abstract or absurd in whole parts. The directors, Takayuki Yamada, Naoto Takenaka and Takumi Saitoh, keep the roots nicely. But all three norish the idea at the core, the unreliable and inconsistent nature of the Gran father. And this is the brightest part of a very good film. In film school, you get a lesson in ‘perspective’ from the protagonist view, here is the lesson in 90 enjoyable minutes, with a clever sense of what and why it is doing it. I loved it, you will also. Shame that it has little extra on the disc but the film is good enough!

BLU-RAY CONTENTS

• Interviews with all 3 directors
• Behind the Scenes
• Trailer