(4.5/5)

Sometimes it’s the films you expect the least from that end up impressing you the most – Parade was the last film I added to my LAFF schedule, after going back and forth on it and for the most part deciding that its story of four twenty-somethings sharing an apartment in Tokyo sounded a little on the routine side. It worked out the best for my schedule, though, so I settled into my seat, ready to sit it out and hope I’d find some enjoyment in it. It ended up being easily one of the best films I saw at the festival.

The premise is still routine, sounding more like the set-up for a tired sitcom than a gripping film, but the things writer/director Isao Yukisada does within that setting with the help of a very gifted cast is pretty special. The film starts of very comedic, making the most of snappy dialogue and the actors’ comic timing and easy banter as they tease one roommate for her crush on a TV soap star, and another ponders the possibility that the apartment next door is actually a brothel, and other antics.

But the superficial camaraderie of the apartment begins to break down firstly due to the arrival of a fifth tenant who simply shows up one morning – none of the other residents can account for his presence, but after very little discussion, they decide to let him stay anyway – and secondly because of the increasingly close-to-home series of neighborhood murders that fill up the television airwaves. There’s a fairly severe tonal shift in the film from comedic to very serious, but it’s handled as well or better than almost any other similar tonal shift I’ve ever seen. It happens so gradually and so organically as the film unfolds, as you and the other characters find out more about each person’s inner life and backstory that you don’t really realize it’s happening until you pull out from the film for a second and think “whoa, this shit just got serious.”

Themetically, the idea that this living arrangement only works because of the superficial nature of the characters’ interactions and knowledge of each other is pretty interesting – it’s when they start becoming emotionally dependent on each other, spilling secrets, and relying on each other for real help that the carefree facade and atmosphere breaks down. As the fifth tenant says, speaking as the outsider who perhaps understands the group the best, “you’re just friends on the outside – otherwise things would get wrecked.” Yet, there are some real personal breakthroughs that happen because of these wreck-causing interactions, so it’s not cut and dried that staying aloof is necessarily the best way.

Though it’s clearly not a big-budget film, Yukisada does a lot with the space he’s got, making the apartment itself nearly a character at times. He also does a great job shooting specific moments in really powerful ways – a major reveal near the end is done with just one character stopping and pulling something out of a bag, then standing still for a few seconds holding it. As you realize what this means, it’s almost like a physical blow. I almost wish the end of the film had come sooner after that – the last ten minutes or so stretched out from that moment a bit more than they needed to. That realization almost didn’t need the bit of character commentary that followed it.

The mix of comedy and drama, nearly tragedy, in the film is really well-done, especially in the way it carries out such a dramatic tonal shift, and the actors are all up to the task, equally able to toss off a flippant line with perfect timing and pull out a heartbreaking yet totally unmanipulative scene. Parade took me by surprise, engrossing me and taking me along with it every step of the way, leaving me breathless and highly impressed at the end. Here’s to the serendipity that festivals have to offer, and here’s hoping Parade makes into release at some point; I do not believe it was mentioned at the screening whether it has distribution or not.

Directed by Isao Yukisada
Screenplay: Isao Yukisada
Cinematography: Jun Fukumoto
Cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Karina, Shihori Kanjiya, Kento Hayashi, Keisuke Koide
Official Site
IMDb
LA Film Fest Guide

I was unable to find an English-subtitled trailer, but here’s the Japanese one: