Synopsis
Mayumi was widowed three years ago and now makes a living working as a hairdresser. She loves her son Kai dearly but the boy is always turned away at the elementary school he is attending. Some boys ruin Kai's soccer ball and make fun of him. One day, Kai sees his father's ghost and they play soccer together. The father asks the boy to grow up into a manly man. The ghost sometimes appears when the child is asleep. Mayumi tries to marry but Kai would wear a gloomy look when his mother meets other man. Mayumi becomes involved with photographer Kida, one of her late husband's best friends. Kai tells her that his father has come back from heaven. Director Nakamura started out as an assistant director of adult movies at Nitkatsu Co. in the 1970s. In the next decade, he changed his direction to general movies and accumulated experinces making action movies such as "Full of Murder." "Is That You?" is a family fantasy that a lonely boy has a happy time meeting his father's ghost and ultimately realizes a happy home. At some points, the movie may remind of the Hollywood family dramas but its tone is more sensitive and bright. Superficially, this film is a fantasy, but a more important thing is the way the director presents the emotions through the simple form of family drama. Kai's grandmother shows symptoms of Alzheimer's and his aunt tries to marry a man by using sex. This may sound like a story of a ruined family but this portrait of a broken, modern home is not light at all. The peculiar narrative of Director Nakamura, such as the scene in which Kai meets his father, looks impressive. The scene seems to be a parody of movies by Director Ingmard . Particularly noteworthy is the psychology of Kai's. The disheartened Kai gradually recovers the young vigor through his meeting with his father. That's the way how children grow. ( Kim Ui-chan)