"Monosasu Cinema" in the Fruitful Autumn

The sun sets earlier, and people on the streets are dressed in autumn attire.
The season of abundance of chestnuts, persimmons, and sweet potatoes has arrived.

This time, we asked three members to tell us their recommended movies for autumn.

A fruitful documentary about the life of a couple who have been steadily building their family for 40 years, a story about Greek immigrants that will make you smell the spices wafting from the screen, and three slightly retro sci-fi fantasy films.

The movie we will introduce this time

The special thing I've been working on my whole life for - "Life Fruits"

"Fruits of Life" directed by Takeyuki Fushihara, released in 2016 ( official website )

90-year-old architect Shuichi Tsubata and his 87-year-old wife Hideko,
This is a very colorful documentary film that chronicles the lives and history of an extremely elderly couple.

A breeze-free grove that has been cultivated over 40 years.
A water bowl for birds to visit.
We have been growing 70 types of vegetables and 50 types of fruit little by little since we built our house.
And flowers bloom in every season.

"I thought yellow would be good so that it would be easy to identify," said one person, as these small guide signs were placed all over the premises.
They are all handmade, with each one bearing a unique message.

Every day of their lives is filled with little bits of richness like this.

Roast the seaweed over a fire and boil hot water in an iron kettle.
The shoji screens are all repapered by hand, and the mochi rice cakes are branded.
I write letters every day and mail them to my friends.
A single-story house with a high ceiling and 30 tatami mat room, modeled after a respected architect.
Even though there are many windows in high places that are out of reach, I open and close them every day.

The opening footage alone is an absolute treat for the eyes.
As the title suggests, a vivid and beautiful life is depicted there.

Narrated by Kiki Kirin, who passed away last month,
Every time these spell-like words are repeated, I feel like crying a little.

When the wind blows, the dead leaves fall. When the dead leaves fall, the soil becomes fertile. When the soil becomes fertile, fruit grows. Steadily, slowly.

Just when you think you've seen a splendid array of beautiful things, an episode from when the couple first started their life together comes up. It's about the major setback Shuichi experienced during Japan's period of rapid economic growth: the construction of Kozoji New Town in Kasugai City, Aichi Prefecture.

He came up with a plan to make use of the Satoyama landscape, but the plan was not accepted by the times and instead prioritized the economy. He quietly accepted the fact that he had destroyed an undesirable and fertile mountain, bought land there, and began to create Satoyama once again with his own efforts.
When I think that these 40 years are a manifestation of that will, and that this is the lifestyle they are living, I feel that there is something incredible about the repeated chant of "Slowly and steadily."

"We may not be able to leave money to the younger generation, but we can leave good soil."
What they want to leave behind beyond their lifetime as a couple. Even though it may seem like they are living in hope that "someday it will come to fruition," I feel that "someday" does not belong only to them.

The Tsubata couple expressed the spell-like "little by little, slowly" as "saving time." Just by expressing it in this way, it feels like a mysterious phrase that has a long-term perspective that goes beyond their own life.

If you have found something special that you want to devote your life to, take your time and slowly save it. Make a quiet choice and someday have a fruitful autumn in your life!
When I'm tired and don't feel like doing anything, I watch it over and over again, hoping to borrow its quiet power.

Spice is what gives life depth.
"Touch of Spice"

A Touch of Spice, directed by Tasos Bourmetis, released in 2005 ( Amazon )

"Life is like cooking. It takes a pinch of spice to add depth."
The film begins with this catchphrase and tells the story of a Greek immigrant family set in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), Turkey, and Greece, centering on the protagonist Fanis and his grandfather, who runs a spice trade.

As the title suggests, many different types of spices appear in the book, and are often used as metaphors for life.

In the scene where the grandfather teaches Fanis about spices,

Among gourmets (Gastronómos), there are astronomers (Astronómos).
Pepper is hot and the sun is hot. The sun sees everything, so it is in all cooking.
The earth is salt. Without salt, food and life are bland.

What also draws me to this film is that every word the grandfather speaks to Fanis is so moving.

In the scene where Greek immigrants are deported,

When you leave, talk about your destination, not the place you're leaving

In the scene where Fanis, who is leaving Istanbul earlier, speaks to his grandfather,

Look at the stars and wait for the same stars. Some stars are visible in the sky, while others are not.
Always talk about things that cannot be seen, because people are interested in things that cannot be seen.
The same goes for cooking. Is it bad if you can't see the salt or pepper? No, it's not. Still, the key is the amount of salt.

In the scene where Fanis' father talks to his grandfather who rarely comes to Greece,

That person isn't coming.
That city is so beautiful.

^* This film is so full of humor that you never get a sense of the dark political background.

^* After World War II, a movement arose among the Turkish and Greek residents of Cyprus, which was under British mandate, to belong to their respective countries, and ethnic cleansing began. This was the cause of the so-called Cyprus problem .

How about watching this movie on a long autumn night, when you can feel the taste and aroma that cannot be expressed in a normal movie? A dish of meatballs mixed with cinnamon appears many times. What does this dish bring? I hope you will enjoy watching the movie.

(Note) Greece's entry for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, winner of 10 awards at the 2005 Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and numerous other awards.

The nostalgic sci-fi fantasy "Navigator" may actually be a masterpiece

Flight of the Navigator, directed by Randall Kleiser, released in 1986 ( Amazon )

One movie that came to mind that no one would mention was "The Navigator."
This is a science fiction fantasy about a boy who goes missing in the forest and returns "exactly the way he was" eight years later, and an intelligent UFO that collects samples of life from various planets, analyzes them, and then returns them to the same place and time as when they were collected. The UFO decides that the human body is too fragile to withstand the reversal of time after collecting the boy on Earth, and so returns him to Earth, where the story begins.

I didn't watch it when it was released, but after I became a working adult. I can't remember when I watched it or the story, but I remember the UFO design and the scene at the end where the "evidence" (a life form that does not exist on Earth) pops out of the main character's bag.

In terms of the design of flying objects, including UFOs, this is my second favorite design after the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars (when it was in its "top-notch" form). The beautiful visuals, which must have been cutting-edge at the time, the mysterious yet predictable plot, the humorous and serious scenes, and the slightly heartwarming ending. It's a film that you can watch casually without thinking too much.
Despite being a Disney production, it's not the kind of thing you'd find everywhere, so if you come across it, you should consider it a fateful opportunity and pick it up.

The last film, with its heartwarming alien character, must have captured the hearts of children at the time. The couple's life, built over a long period of time, is filled with beauty that money cannot buy, and teaches us that enjoying and savoring spices can enrich our hearts, no matter how difficult the situation.

Why not take your time watching a movie on a long autumn night?