ALL ABOUT OUR HOUSE / EVERYBODY'S HOUSE (MINNA NO IE). Viewed on Streaming. Music = eight (8) stars; sound = seven (7) stars; cinematography = three (3) stars. Director Kôki Mitani (who is also credited as the screen writer) starts with what would seem to be an amusing preface filled with comedic possibilities (what may happen when relatives and friends are involved in designing and building an affluent couple's "dream house") and tosses in a clash between Western and traditional Japanese architectural/building philosophies/skills plus some heavy-handed Shinto lampooning. Unfortunately the result is not especially amusing, overly predicable, and flat-out boring (and much too long). Mitani is unable to engagingly execute his own plot line! Except for the music (see below),it would appear that the Director's anemic film has targeted the wrong audience: the movie would seem to appeal more to viewers of "free" TV than paying theater goers. Acting ranges from amateurish to workman like. The cast exhibits a serious lack of energy. Leading actor Naoki Tanaka (who plays the couple's husband) seems miscast (or is unable to fully mask his feeling that the film is a dog?). Cinematography (wide screen, color) is "TV quality" at best with most scenes consisting of medium close-ups and head shots sometimes with unfocused panning and very narrow depth of field (line deliveries can be made by characters in backgrounds who are not in focus!). Surround-sound field is quite good. Music is dynamic and covers a wide spectrum from classical-like snippets to modern easy-listening to light jazz. However, this soporific film can not be rescued (in post production) by simply having lively music on its sound track! Not especially recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

Koki Mitani directed "Rajio no Jikan" which had success internationally under the title "Goodbye Mr MacDonald". Minna no Ie ("Everybody's House") has a similar character but is a much more personal film and unlikely to have the same wider appeal.

This is a comedy and Mitani has come up trumps again with his actors. Where this film falls short of previous efforts is the pace and structure of the script. The situation this time is a well-to-do middle class couple building their family home. The wife wants modernity and looks to hire a young interior designer with a growing reputation. Unfortunately, he does not have the licences to handle the project in total so the wife's father, a contractor of the old school, is brought in to complete the team.

There are good jokes as new Japan meets old Japan and the couple find themselves making more and more compromises to see the project through. This idea resembles the structure of "Rajio no Jikan" where the original idea of the housewife's play is also pulled apart by characters stretching their egos and forcing unhappy compromises.

However, whereas the time constraint of a live radio broadcast in the earlier film forced on the spot decisions with ludicrous and immediate consequences, the building of the house is over a longer period. Mitani attempts to create a sense of urgency by stipulating that the house has to be built by a certain date but this seems artificial and so this film lacks the tension that made the first such a popular success. He includes some trademark tracking shots but they don't seem to add to the film particularly, although they are certainly very skillfully executed.

The film is still funny but is also more sentimental. This is no bad thing and the acting carries off these scenes for the most part. Just to draw the connection with the earlier film himself, the director gets Kyoko Toda to reprise her role as the veteran actress in a fleeting cameo where she talks with her manager in a bar. While I was enjoying the film, this did make me think that Mitani had taken a step back with this film when he could have gone forward.

I saw this film on the double DVD package which has been released in Japan, unfortunately at the high price of 6000 yen. The DVD has English subtitles so this may yet make its way out of Japan in a cheaper format. The special features disc shows Mitani in a very good light. He gets Mark Schilling, a well-known writer and critic of Japanese films, to interview him in English and he plays for laughs while still managing to talk sensibly about the film. He even gets his four main actors in on the joke as they also speak in English (and one in French) about the film (subtitled in Japanese for the Japanese audience). This is a good spoof of a "Making" documentary and a joke about Mitani's own "international" reputation.

This film was a success in Japan and touched a wide audience. It might seem a little harsh to score this film only 6 but I was hoping for more. A similar situation faced Juzo Itami, who never managed to match the international success of "Tampopo" but "Mimbo no Onna", known as "A Taxing Woman" in the West, was an excellent film nevertheless which only missed the same success because the international audience was not so familiar with the situation. "Miina no Ie" seems to see Mitani settling back into a comfortable chair when he clearly has the skills to do more. He jokes on the DVD about how he sees himself in rivalry with Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli but few would see "Spirited Away" as a step backwards from "Princess Mononoke" so we will look to Mitani's next project to deliver on this promise.

In recent years more and more Japanese films are being released to a Western Audience. Classic films by the masters Ozu and Kurosawa, violently artistic films by Kitano, and blood and gore films by Miike have flooded the market. However, with a few exceptions of course, one genre of film that has had a pretty light release in the west are comedies, especially those that fall into the realm of daily life or domestic comedy. There are of course many films like this such as Yaguchi Shinobu's Swing Girls and Waterboys and Sai Yoichi's bittersweet Quill, but for a mass market Western release these films are left behind while those that are considered more artsy or trendy, and probably more markedly viable, are released to wider audiences. Minna no ie, Everybody's House is a good example of what is being missed.

Having done well for himself as a television scriptwriter, although he seems to struggle with new ideas for his gag sow, Iijima Naosuke and his wife Tamiko have decided to buy their first home. However, instead of purchasing a prefabricated home, they desire to have a home built from scratch. Willing to do almost anything to keep harmony amongst his family and loved ones, Naosuke willingly agrees with his wife to have her old college classmate Yanagisawa design them a home because she admires his modern vision. However, there is a small snag. Yanagisawa is an interior designer with a specialty in furniture. He does not have the license to design a building that would be constructed legally. However, if he drew up the original plans and had someone else draw the final blueprints all would be fine. Being that her father is a contractor and an architect, Tamiko asks him not only to draw up the final blueprints but to construct the house himself. It is here where some problems begin.

Yanagisawa is not only absorbed with the modernist architecture of the 50s and 60s, but he is also quite dismissive of Japanese architectural traditions such as an outward swinging door, outside doors tend to swing inward in America, and such things as having one room reserved in the house for a Japanese styled room, while Tamiko's father a carpenter of traditional Japanese style carpentry is set in stone with his methods on how to build a house. With his band of elderly workers firmly, or not so firmly, behind him, Tamiko's father is determined to have his way and, of course, Yanagisawa is deadest against compromise. What will Naosuke, with a looming deadline, do? On its surface Minna no ie is a light, comedic film about the modern vs. the traditional clashing, however, if one peels back the surface a bit one can see a bit of social criticism within the film. At one point, Yanagisawa desires a specific kind of tike known as bamboo tile, but because he does not know the name he has to draw a diagram of the tile. Familiar with the design, Tamiko's father is able to acquire some of it and Yanagisawa speaks on the problem in today's world of everyone wanting compromise and convenience. A world in which certain things such as bamboo tile and um prefabricated paints fall to the wayside.

Minna no ie is definitely a fun film and it should be perfect for those looking for a film a bit lighter than those of Kurosawa and Kitano.