Introduction

That Bunji Sotoyama chose to explore the world of the elderly subject for his latest project should not come as a surprise. His short film On This Side (2010), A Sparkle of Life (2013), as well as Harunareya (2016) each explored in their own right the position of the elderly subject within the societal field.

Yet, his latest movie does not merely return to the themes he touched upon. Rather, he takes the opportunity to explore something that, up until today, is still considered taboo: the sexuality of the elderly subject.

Review

One afternoon, after cutting his nails on an old newspaper, an older man (Gozu Takeo) happens to discover a small ad of someone seeking tea-friends. Lacking any kind of social contact, he decides to call the number.

Much to his surprise, the encounter between him, an older lady and a younger woman ends up in a love hotel, where he, after taking some Viagra, makes passionate love to the elderly woman. Tea friends is not merely a service that connects people over tea, but a prostitution business specialising in arranging appointments for sex workers over 65.

The opening sequence of Tea Friends reveals, in a rather direct way, the most important social struggles among Japan’s elderly population: the increased isolation of the elderly subject within an increased hyperconnected social dynamic, the loneliness caused by the withering of social bonds, as well as the insufficient nature of the Japanese pension system.

Besides highlighting these elements that impact the psyche of the elderly subject, Sotoyama also introduce the mediating factor that aggravates the elderly subject’s struggles: the phantasmatic ideas that lingers within the societal field, as supported by the working subject. From the viewpoint of many younger people – personified in the narrative by Kasai (Sano Hiroki) and Takumi (Suzuki Takeru), the elderly subject has lost all utility for the societal field – he is only a burden that leeches money from the state and utilizes tax-money to indulge in (sexual) pleasure.

That such preconception is deeply phantasmatic is highlighted by the contrast between the emptiness that marks the old man’s mundane life and Kasai‘s disapproving signifiers. Such phantasmatic idea does not merely create a distance between the subject who feels robbed of his enjoyment and the elderly other who supposedly took hold of it, but forces a signification on the elderly other that erases his subjective voice and effaces his struggle within the societal field, the Other (Narra-note 1, Narra-note 2).

Through Mana (Rei Akamoto), we can come to understand that the elderly subject struggles with the loss of his function within the societal field. As the years go by, the elderly subject sees the myriad of identifications (e.g. husband, salarymen, …etc.) gradually thin out and the societal frame of one’s subjective position weakens. While some elderly subjects succeed in clinging to their respected past and stabilize themselves with such fantasy, other subjects struggle to close the abyss of nothingness with a new purpose. What Kasai, who laments the uselessness of the elderly subject, refuses to see is that the societal field fails to address the struggles of the elderly subject. Mana’s service, while exploiting the failure of the societal Other for profit, does offer the elderly subject a new function and allows the wandering elderly subject a sense of intimate connection.  

The effects of an increased isolation among the elderly population leads to a whole gamut of psychological problems. Through the trajectory of Matsuko (Maki Isonoshi), the presence of suicidal impulses among elderly people is touched upon. Other elderly subjects, like Kayo (-), try to erase their desolate loneliness by symptomatically indulging in pachinko and other forms of gambling.

The struggles of the elderly subject is contrasted in the narrative with the problems younger people can be faced with. Chika (Miu Kainuma), for instance, discovers she is pregnant, yet her married lover crudely tells her he will not take any responsibility. Through her trajectory, the spectator is not only able to grasp the kind of preconceptions concerning single motherhood that lurk within the Japanese societal field, but also sense the unwillingness that marks the governmental Other when dealing with the subject-in-need.

Through the trajectory of Takumi, Sotoyama explores the stark difference that exist between how the child sees a parent – an image that is generally marked by the element of failure – and how the societal Other perceives him. This narrative strand, elegantly interwoven in the main narrative, underlines the importance of re-investigating and re-evaluating the image one has constructed of one’s elderly parent over the years.

While Tea Friends might feel disconnected at first – touching upon a wide range of subjective  and interpersonal struggles, there is an idea that structures the whole narrative and binds the myriad of narrative strands fluidly together. Nearly everything in the narrative boils down to the fact that the subject’s decisions and symptomatic solutions are merely a phantasmatic response addressed to the parental Other. In other words, Tea Friends shows, in a deeply Freudian way, that the parental Other continues to echo within the subject’s logic – in his acts and signifiers (Narra-note 3, Narra-note 4).

The composition of Tea Friends mixes static and dynamic shots fluidly together. Yet, it is not right to say that Sotoyama’s visual composition is well-balanced – it would do the composition a disservice – as the visual flow he thoughtfully creates echoes, in general, the movement of the character in focus (Cine-note 1).

A different element that stands out in the composition is Sotoyama’s reliance on shaky framing. By giving his composition a documentary flavour, he does not merely emphasize the fact that his narrative is inspired by actual events, but adds a sense of naturalism to his narrative that reinforces the performances and helps intensifying the narrative’s emotional flow. 

Tea Friends investigates, in a very touching way, the radical discordance between the societal field and the elderly subject. Sotoyama does not merely touch upon the failure of society to deal with problem of isolation and solitude, but reveals how the discourse young people have of the elderly subject aggravates the hidden contemporary social drama. Highly recommended.  

Notes

Narra-note 1: His attack on the elderly subject is moreover quite hypocritical as he, being part of the prostitution business, exploits the loneliness – social as well as physical – of the elderly subject for his own monetary gain. He feeds off a social problem that he, due to his violent preconceptions, refuses to acknowledge.

Narra-note 2: Besides being a societal and financial burden, the elderly subject is also considered a social burden by many of their children. Such subjects do not merely shy away from their responsibility as child but grant them their abandonment as a last act of ‘kindness’.  

Narra-note 3: The heartbreaking finale shows how the Other is ultimately structured to work against the (elderly) subject. The signifier ‘rule’ is merely utilized to maintain the phantasmatic consistency of the Other and squash down any breaches that dare show its destructive effects on subjectivity. The societal field creates the struggles of the subject but remains, by believing  in the righteousness of the phantasmatic Other, blind to its effects.

The finale, furthermore, painfully reveals that, to uphold and repair the mendacious image of societal harmony, one can purposefully criminalize the system of tea-friends and the intentions of its manager.      

Narra-note 4: The importance of the signifier ‘family’ for Mana is, as the narrative elegantly implies, function of an ongoing conflict between her and her mother, a conflict that mutilated the familial structure. The important of this signifier is clearly highlighted in the finale of the narrative, a finale that offers an answer to the question as to whether a family can be financially forged.

Cine-note 1: While there are many exceptions to be noted in the composition, Sotoyama nevertheless creates a flow in which the movement of the character is echoed in the compositional dynamism.

It is, however, not a direct duplication. That is to say, it is not always tracking movement that us used to frame the movement of the character in the narrative frame.