At the Terrace

2016
8.1| 1h35m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 29 October 2016 Released
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Country: Japan
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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A gaunt, middle-aged man barely recovered from a serious illness, an awkward company employee, the hosts’ likable son, who comes home late — each of the men on the terrace are captivated by Haruko’s pale, white arms, inflaming the jealousy of the company director’s wife. Literary anecdotes abound, as does petty bickering. The masks they’ve carefully crafted are suddenly torn away, exposing their tainted humanity. Desires, jealousies and secrets are laid bare during 90 minutes on the terrace, culminating in a shocking and not exactly happy ending.

Genre

Drama, Comedy

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Director

Kenji Yamauchi

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At the Terrace Audience Reviews

Diagonaldi Very well executed
Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
GyatsoLa I caught this interesting film at the Japanese Film Festival in Dublin - I had little expectations for it, but came away very pleasantly surprised.This is an unusual Japanese film - it is very much a theatrical presentation in all ways - it is an adapted theatre production but the director has made absolutely no attempt to 'open it out', it keeps the single set form of a play, with 'enter stage' and 'exit stage' movements by the actors. I assume this was partly an artistic choice, partly for budgetary reasons. But it certainly works well.The story is also seemingly quite un-japanese - a sort of society satire, seemingly a Japanese version of a Neil Simon style comedy of manners. It is set at the end of an annual party held by a wealthy Chief Executive. The main guests have gone, leaving a ragbag of tail-enders - a shy Toyota engineer who arrived late, a stylish younger couple, a seriously ill casual acquaintance of all present, and the two hosts - the slightly smug husband and his angry, waspish wife. She, seemingly enraged by having to be polite to previous guests she can't stand, lets loose on the shy engineer, teasing and mocking him for his admiring glances at the younger woman. This sets the stage for a series of misunderstandings and arguments as the group gets more and more drunk. The loose social connections between the characters leads to a very japanese style conflict as each seeks to gain their own bearings in this awkward situation. While the overall story threatens to run out of the control of the Director/writer, it is often hilarious as the characters joust and try to maintain their civility in the face of their female hosts overt hostility. Secrets are spilled, and things get even more awkward when the hosts handsome young son arrives. The film ultimately I think fails to hit its satirical targets, but its very entertaining nonetheless - while there are certain subtleties to the satire that doubtless only a Japanese audience will get, the Dublin audience I saw it certainly appreciated it and found the characters all too understandable as they scrabbled around trying to keep their dignity as the evening spins out of control.