A Different (and Dirty) Take on the Japanese Wake

Wakeful Nights
2006 (Japan theatrical release)
Dir: Masahiko Makino (a.k.a. Masahiko Tsugawa)

Think what you want of Tarantino movies, one of the best traditions he has borrowed from Japanese cinema is setting the tone with an equally intense and funny dialogue-heavy opening scene. One of my favorites in recent years is the similarly themed opening to Japanese director SABU's "Monday", but the surprising and raunchy opening of "Wakeful Nights" outlining the misunderstood dying wish of a rakugo sensei would make Jack Tripper blush.

It is easy for people to see cultural differences in obvious things like food and dress, but sometimes we don't realize that other aspects of culture, like familial relationships, education, and (in this case) death and mourning are not universal. Long-time fans of Japanese cinema might remember this theme being explored in the Juzo Itami dark comedy "The Funeral" (Ososhiki, 1984).

In "Wakeful Nights" the pre-title-scene sensei on his deathbed has passed away leading to a extended look at a Japanese wake. But this isn't any typical wake, but one for a highly respected rakugo artist. This is where the twist comes in. Like a wake in the West, black-clad guests come and go, but at the end of the day the closest to the deceased stick around. It is here the bulk of the movie is spent, trading stories with gulps of sake. These are the stories that shed formalities and challenge the nastiest memories of the bereaved.

Rakugo is the very traditional art of very Japanese story-telling. In the world of rakugo, students refer to each other as "brother" and "sister" and their sensei (played by Hiroyuki Nagato) is like their father. The fact that a handful of "students" are closer to the sensei than his actual son (played perfectly by Ittoku Kishibe) is only one source of the humor that unfolds at the almost real-time wake scenes.

Despite being students, these are skilled masters of entertaining audiences with their emphatic tales. So how do professional story-tellers outdo themselves at a sake-soaked wake? By recalling funny anecdotes about their sensei, but these stories get progressively filthy as the bottomless bottle of sake is poured time and time again, leading to what might be that most lewd 110 minutes of cinema without a single naked breast since "The Aristocrats".

When professional musicians party there is no doubt the blindly simple but infectious "Louie Louie" will get played, and it appears the same is true for masters of the verbal arts. Easy, but expertly-crafted and engrossing tales of fishing expeditions to lose one's virginity and extra-marital affairs are capped with a shaminsen battle deciding who can sing the nastiest chorus (think Andrew Dice Clay's lewd nursury rhymes done at an Eminem "8-Mile" rap-off).

One wake leads to another, and these vulgar, drunken mourning 'til morning all-nighters become a sort of dark habit for the regular participants. How these aging (though not necessarily old) and uniquely connected individuals justify their increasingly regular meetings makes for bitter fun.

With several famous cameos and some more pristine actresses acting in some less than pristine roles, "Wakeful Nights" will have the most obvious appeal to people with some familiarity of Japanese cinema. However, the totally surprising and foul dichotomy of suit-clad mourners recalling some of the smuttiest stories recorded in cinematic history makes "Wakeful Nights" a hilarious surprise for those who like their funerals funny and their comedies dark as black ties.