The residents of Mariko Apartments show you're never too old to have fun.
Accept and win
The brainiacs have probably concluded that the wisdom of age lies mostly in being cognizant of life's bizarre twists and accepting them. You don't have to like everything that happens, anymore than you must like the winner of "American Idol," but acceptance does make for fewer unnecessary conflicts, which in turn, makes life a whole lot easier.
That's one of the ideas behind Sachi Hamano's charming comedy, "Lily Festival," as part of Girl Fest 2004.
"Lily Festival" 8 p.m. today at Restaurant Row multiplex
It's a lightweight romp that, depending on how you absorb its ultimate message, will be uplifting or depressing.
Lest you still believe the foolishness of youth eventually gives way to senior serenity, the hijinks taking place at the Mariko Apartments suggest human beings never outgrow their capacity for romance or folly, which are often connected.
The arrival of new tenant Mr. Miyoshi sets about a chain of events that might be described as "The Bachelor" for the geriatric set.
The apartment's residents are a half dozen women in their 60s to 90s whose husbands have died long ago, leaving them without family. They are lifers at the apartments until the inevitable.
For one fun-loving resident, Mrs. Totsuka, the inevitable comes early, and after expressing shock to have died so suddenly, her spirit gets over it and settles around her old friends to narrate the rest of the tale.
To fill the vacancy, landlady Umeka Mariko has welcomed into the den of estrogen a 75-year-old ponytailed, beret-wearing widower named Mr. Miyoshi.
With his charm and dashing demeanor, Miyoshi drives the women to giddiness. They swarm around him, all school-girl giggles and come-ons. When landlady Mariko doesn't like the antics of 91-year-old Yoshi Kitagawa, she banishes her and her three cats to another apartment building down the road.
But Miyoshi's most interested in 73-year-old Rue Miyano, who is hard to know because of her aloof Old World bearing, and a quiet sadness that comes from having so recently lost her friend Mrs. Totsuka.
She is not one to compete for Miyoshi's affections, but she's not immune to the jealousy and cattiness that emerge. In one of Rue's reveries, she imagines Miyoshi as radiant Snow White, and she and the other women as the dwarfs clumsily vying for his attention, which turns out to be less than honorable.
As the women complain about the genetic disaster that leaves far too few men to keep women their age company, Miyoshi chides them for being "too mindful of the young" and more importantly, he notes that the distinctions between men and women disappear as people age.
Taking his messages to heart, the women blossom. And if Miyoshi's right, George W. Bush needs to learn tolerance, fast.
The film is in Japanese with English subtitles.
Click for online
calendars and events.
