Awholefilmbuiltaroundasingleword:“Tamaran!”ThefirsttimewehearitiswhenHinako’sfatherfulminatesonthephoneagainstatyphoon:“Tamaran!”,“unbearable!”.Thewordappearsforthesecondtimeinthetitleofabookthatabooksellergivestoastudentwhowantstoreadabout“hometowns”:TamaranHill.Theadjectivehasbecomeapropernoun,both“reallyevocativeandprofound”,accordingtothebookseller.Ontheplatformandthenonthetrainthattakesherbackhome,Hinakoreads.Thereadingimmediatelystartstoreflectherownlife,sentencesleadherbacktoherorigins,tothepastofherfamily,tohersorrows.Relatingandrepresentingthisreflectionthroughabouncinggamebetweensentencesandshots–suchisthechallengeofthefilm,whichistakenupthroughthemostgenerous,boldandrigoroustypeofplasticandnarrativeinventiveness.Wordsarebroughttolife,thepastisrevivedwithapencilinthewhitenessthatbringstogetherimageandpage,andthatturnsoneintotheother.Howdoyougofromasinglewordtoafilm?Throughabookanditsreading,then;butalso,throughtheseriesofbooksinwhichHinakotracksdowntheword“tamaran”anditspolysemy.TheJapanesenovelTamaranHillinspiredTadasukeKotani’sfilm.Itsauthor,SeijiKuroi,makesanappearance,asawriterwhoconfideshisguidingprincipletothestudent:“charactersaremadeofwords.Wordshavetheirownvitality,warmthandpower.Charactersarisefromtheactionsofsuchwords.”BecauseKotanihasdaredtakingthewritertohisword,thefilmisfarfromamereliteraryadaptation–itisamadlyambitiousandfullymasteredattempt
totranslateliteratureintofilm.Because“translationisaform”(W.Benjamin),andTamaranHill’sdirectorbelongstotherarespeciesofthetrueinventorsofform.Hisinvention?Anactionfilmwhoseheroisaword.(C.N.)