close knit, or 彼らが本気で編むときは (Karera ga Honki de Amu Toki wa)

[soundofwonder]

So. Close Knit. Japanese movie about a girl whose mother up and left one day and ended up in the care of her uncle and his girlfriend who is mtf. It's part of the lgbt screening here by an independent cinema.

The premise seems ok, with the "child encounters non-cis person and learns about acceptance" trope and all, and it's surprisingly more lighthearted than I expected, but...

So around 90% through the movie, when Tomo and the uncle, Makio, and his girlfriend, Rinko, have bonded and the adults were planning on adopting her since this isn't the first time her single mother, Hiromi, have just suddenly left to be with some guy and basically isn't taking care of her and so on.

Of course it's then the mother suddenly shows up and says she ran out of money and is going to work again so she's bringing Tomo home now, thanks for taking care of her. So her brother brings up the topic of adoption since she hasn't been taking care of her kid and all.

Then of course she freaks out, says "I won't say anything about your sexuality", how can "such a person" be able to take care of a child properly, what will happen when she has periods, do they even know what to do when her breasts develops. The kid then lashes out at her, talking about how Rinko (bro's gf) makes cute bentos for her, knits for her and so on which her own mother has never done (she literally just stocks up onigiri for her lol).

Then her mother becomes despondent and started crying and says something like "I don't know how to be a mother" and so on and decides to leave. Girl stops her however, and says she will go home with her mother, but not now.

Then the three of them spend one last night together and feels, then girl leaves, and now her apartment is spick and span, unlike in the beginning with the dishes unwashed and clothes everywhere and everything.

Rinko finds the girl's handkerchief and starts crying, her bf comforts her.

And it ends.

So basically at the end the difference in the apartment between the beginning and the end is like night and day - dishes aren't piled up anymore and cleaned, clothes are washed, the apartment is clean and Tomo doesn't have to eat onigiri every day anymore.

I can deal with how the mother reacted in a bigoted way, because she's freaking out and seemingly about to lose her daughter (which she didn't really take care of properly, but anyway....), this is conservative east asia etc. Also am ignoring how internet is a thing and tbh one doesn't have to have periods or develops breasts to help a girl through puberty.

But there's just something off about how the movie handled the ending.

It feels like the entire development of Rinko, the bf and Tomo throughout the movie has been just leading up to making the mother suddenly realize that she has not been taking care of her kid properly and thus she starts changing.

Even though she appears for a total of maybe 5 minutes in the whole movie, it feels as if the relationship formed between Rinko and Tomo was just a tool to make the mother wake up her idea. It feels as if the main character was the mother all along, and not Tomo or Rinko.

Just puts a bad taste in my mouth. It was as if all that had happened was for nothing.

I don't know, even if Tomo had moved back to her mother's place, at least show Rinko visiting her during the weekends or something - this break is really too abrupt and final.

And overall, despite showing acceptance, the movie seems to drives home a message like "cishet mother who neglects her kid > transgender woman who takes proper care of said kid".

Ugh.

I just wish I didn't watch the last part of the movie.


Also come to think of it this reminds me of those BL works that seem progressive but in the end just perpetuates the status quo.

Also Rinko's fashion is stuck in the far past?? The movie didn't do her justice imo. She dressed more and more like how a stereotypical elementary school principal from the 80s/90s as the movie went on???? Hell, it's like how queen elizabeth dresses?? She's supposed to be around 30, not 90!!!