Juzo Itami Buries His Mischievous Impulses in ‘The Funeral’

Juzo Itami got edgier as his directing career grew. Just think about “Tampopo” or “A Taxing Woman.” In those movies, his humor can be sardonic to the point of serrated as he grins at a Japan co-opted by the West.

But in his first picture, “The Funeral,” Itami was more subdued, even reflective. The 1984 serio-comedy (which screens Friday night as part of UC Irvine’s “Off the Beaten Path” series) is reined in, as if Itami is trying very hard to be thoughtful.

That goes against Itami’s mischievous impulses, which tend to make a film like “Tampopo” such a hoot. “The Funeral” isn’t as good (or as extravagantly funny) as what came later, but it’s still witty and enjoyable.

It’s revealing too; in fact, it may be one of Itami’s most exploratory offerings. The world he looks at is very small (what happens when a hip couple must hold a funeral, old Japan-style), but with fine details. Sometimes they add up in ho-hum ways, but mostly they’re interesting as little documents of the Japanese culture.

A familiar theme, one the new wing of Japanese filmmakers routinely turned to in the ‘80s, is how the middle-class struggles to maintain traditions while devouring everything from the West, especially the United States.

Itami uses a funeral as his whimsical centerpiece. All the events leading to the wake and actual funeral are highly idealized and marked by long-held customs, a fact that perplexes Wabisuke (Tsutomu Yamazaki) and Chizuko (Nobuko Miyamoto), a prosperous young couple who must take care of the remains of Chizuko’s father.

The ritual is precise and requires conformity, but the two are beleaguered by all sorts of questions. Where do you get a Shinto priest to say the correct prayers? How much do you pay after he’s found? How do you arrange the ceremonial incense? What do you say to mourners? What about that symbolic gesture of hammering a nail in the coffin? Do you bang it once, twice or three times?

Wabisuke and Chizuko even turn to a self-help video, “The ABCs of a Funeral,” for advice. It’s a giddy scene as they memorize just the right things to tell family and friends; Chizuko, a practical wife if ever there was one, is relieved when she finds a brief platitude that the video’s narrator assures will fit every occasion. “Nice and short,” Chizuko chirps. “That’s for me!”

There are patches in “The Funeral” that drag on, especially when Itami dwells on not-so-interesting characters, such as a pal of Wabisuke’s who wants to film the whole affair. But just when the movie’s pace barely jogs, Itami tosses in some dash, like the video scene or a touching speech by the dead man’s wife (Kin Sugai) or the strange visit to a crematory.

In that passage, an assistant suddenly confesses how he’s plagued by nightmares of corpses coming alive, just as the flames engulf them. But then he gathers himself and describes how babies have to be cremated gently, almost with an artist’s touch. The scene isn’t ghoulish at all; it’s oddly humane.

* What: Juzo Itami’s “The Funeral.”

* When: Friday, April 15, at 7 and 9 p.m.

* Where: UC Irvine’s Student Center Crystal Cove Auditorium.

* Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Jamboree Road and head south to Campus Drive and take a left. Turn right on Bridge Road and take it into the campus.

* Wherewithal: $2 to $4.

* Where to call: (714) 856-6379.

MORE SPECIAL SCREENINGS

The Agony and the Ecstasy

(NR) Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison star in this 1965 film about the conflicts of Michelangelo and Pope Julius II. Directed by Carol Reed, the film will screen Friday, April 15, at 12:45 p.m. at the Cypress Senior Center, 9031 Grindlay St., Cypress. Public welcome. (714) 229-6776. FREE

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

(NR) An unrealistic and bumpy romance between a widowed German cleaning woman and a young worker is depicted in this 1973 German film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The film will screen with English subtitles Friday, April 15, at 7 p.m. in the Science/Math Building, Room 313, at Saddleback College, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. (714) 582-4788. FREE

The Mark of Zorro

(NR) Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone star in this 1940 film about a young aristocrat in 1800s California who disguises himself to avenge evil. The film, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, will screen April 21 and 22 at 12:45 p.m. at the Cypress Senior Center, 9031 Grindlay St., Cypress. Public welcome. (714) 229-6776. FREE

Red Sorghum

(NR) A film about a romance between two lovers from rural China in the 1920s and the impact on their relationship and Chinese society when Japan invaded the country a decade later. This 1987 film, directed by Zhang Yimou, will screen in Chinese with English subtitles April 22 at 7 and 9 p.m., in the UC Irvine Student Center Crystal Cove Auditorium, Bridge Road and Campus Drive, Irvine, as part of the UCI Film Society’s “Off the Beaten Path” film series. $2 to $4. (714) 856-6379.