dir. Tomu Uchidawrit. Keinosuke Uegusa, Taijun Takeda (novel)
Issue films. Racism films. Yes, they are unavoidable. And on occasion, a filmmaker manages to tell a story that takes on an issue while not being crushed under the weight of heavy aphorism-laden philosophizing. Sadly, The Outsiders is not such a film.
Still Uchida manages to have a few moments, the best of which comes when the main antagonist, a native Ainu, is forced to reckon with his "impure blood," throwing all he believes in, all he's relied upon for his sense of identity, into question. Unfortunately, such moments are rare and not the focus of this picture, too beleaguered by self-righteous violence between native Ainu and Japanese immigrants.
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