Mother Monika – For a Film Unfinished

A special and personal film that brings together different genres in an experimental and entirely original way. For an outsider, it is difficult to judge how much fiction is in the film and how much is documentary or even ‘diary’. One of the two film makers, Aki Miyoshi, plays herself as a young mother who lives in an apartment with her little boy. One day, she meets an old girlfriend. They reminisce about the time when they both worked on Aki Miyoshi’s graduation film. That film, entitled Girlquake, was written by Hideyuki Miyaoka (co-director of Haha Monika) and was in part about a girl who became pregnant out of wedlock. That role was played by Aki Miyoshi herself. While they shot the film, she also became pregnant, after which the film remained unfinished. She now admits that she became pregnant because the character in the film did too. Reality replays fiction and the fictional screenplay proceeded to write real-life. The filmmaker acts and tells her own story. Her own parents play the parents and girlfriends play girlfriends in supporting roles. A film about making a film that was never made. Very ingenious. Miyoshi’s mother thinks films about films are crazy and doesn’t want to stop and think. As long as the dishes get done. (GjZ)