Sake Bomb (2013): far lovelier than a film about racism has any right being (Review)

A Saké Bomb is a beer cocktail made by pouring Saké into a shot glass and dropping it into a glass of beer, it’s also the feature debut of Junya Sakino that’s making its international premiere at the 2013 Raindance Film Festival. In Sakino’s debut, rising star Gaku Hamada (Naoto) is a motivated worked at a Saké factory in rural Japan, a worker who is unexpectedly promoted to the head of the company. It’s an honour for him, no doubt, but his boss suggests that he takes the week off to do the things he has always wanted to do while he has the chance. So Naoto heads to America to find out why the love of his life left him, helped by his cousin Sebastian (Eugene Kim) and uncle (Hiroyuki Watanabe), he goes on a road trip across California.

Sakino’s film is billed as a comedy-drama road trip, and that status alone, especially when it’s a Japanese/American co-production, comes with all sorts of baggage. Since the mid to late 1990s, names like the Farrelly brothers have completely subverted the comedy road trip for the worse. Sake-Bomb is much subtler than that, there are no sex scenes in fact there are two scenes which satirise those expectations. Those scenes are a rarity, as the comedic half of that spread is where the film is at its weakest, and unfortunately, anybody with a critical capacity will swiftly call for the films head. The dramatics, conversely, is much more fascinating.

Even though the film concerns itself with Japan, it’s directed with an American sensibility in mind, particular that of the mumblecore fraternity. A group or sub-genre of film that isn’t particularly well-known for its style or invention, these films (Sake-bomb included) could happily be TV films and nobody would bat an eyelid. While that’s a criticism of the minimalistic production values, it also shines a light on the admirable absence of artifice. Sakino’s film is just two cousins and the friends they meet along the way. There is no big city, no excess; as far as the immediate narrative is concerned, the romanticism of Naoto’s visit to America permeates every pore of the film. This is a romantic film through and through, in its characters and conception.

Romance is also a word that could be used to describe Eugene Kim’s character, Sebastian. Even though he has romantic desires he’s more aggressive in the way he expresses himself. He runs a video blog that does its bit to dispel Asian stereotypes, calling it something that I’m not quite prepared to repeat. Thematically, Sake-Bomb is a film about Asian identity in America. In his road trip along California, Sebastian is revealed to be hypocritically racist, especially for someone who is fighting for Asian equality. Through him, the very idea of an Asian community having any continuity has doubt cast upon it and some really interesting questions are posed.

One of the more interesting strings to Sake-Bombs bow is one that won’t be met with applauds by certain factions of the anime community. Specifically, Sakino’s film asks some very personal questions about just why people from that community who fetishise Asian people. One of the aforementioned sex scenes brings this point to a horrifically awkward conclusion.

Looking at you Weebs.

Even with Sebastian being the most unlikeable soul (with all his baffling behaviour, racial politics and hypocrisy), Eugene Kim makes it work through his committed performance. Any film that stars Kim’s opposite, Gaku Hamada, is almost fate bound to be lovely. The reason for this is that he plays the everyman to perfection. If you were going to use the lazy marketing tactic of comparing a Japanese actor to a western one, with Tadanobu Asano turned into the Japanese Johnny Depp, then Gaku Hamada is the Japanese Martin Freeman. Any actor who works outside of the comfort zone that is their native tongue demands respect, and Hamada is just as thoughtful and likeable when there’s a language barrier in the way.

The charm and intellect aren’t all down to the young Japanese actor’s presence, which would be putting too much on one man’s shoulders. The story, subtext and relaxed atmosphere all make Sake Bomb into the accomplished debut that it is. If I could say one thing about Sake-Bomb it’s that it is far lovelier than a film about racism has any right being.

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