Takatsuga's first feature length film, and in the Tiger Competition Award, The Dark Harbour is a film about a poor fisherman who's looking for a wife. He goes through a lot of efforts, and suddenly a woman with a boy start hiding in his closet. The woman's husband had a lot of debts and they ran off together. The woman becomes the fisherman's wife but it turns out that she has different plans.
The Dark habour is a funny, light film, especially in the first half. The attempts of the fisherman to think of ways to find a woman leads to some hilarious scenes. Yet the second part of the film is much more serious and has some social commentary in it. This shows in fact that Takatsugu, like the fisherman in the film is from a poor fishing village himself.
Another social comment is the boy who is left by his mother to remarry, which is a major problem in Japan at the moment. This may have been inspired by Kitano Takeshi's Kikujiro no Natsu. There is more similarities with Kitano. The sometimes surrealistic, dream-like humourous scenes, and the main character looks a lot like one of the side characters in Kikujiro no Natsu.
The Dark Harbour is funny, witty and makes some good statements. While there is not one message in the film, the director says it's important to keep trying, like the fisherman of the film, because in the end you will be rewarded. The Dark Harbour is a good debut feature by a promising young director.
***1/2 (out of 5)
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