'Life imitates art far more than art imitates life," quipped Oscar Wilde, but in the film world mining one's own life for the sake of art — or rather, a script — is an ancient and hallowed practice. The resulting film, however, may have only a tenuous relationship with the filmmaker's actual biography.
Director Akira Osaki's bittersweet black-and-white comedy "Obon no Ototo" ("Obon Brothers") certainly sounds a lot like his own. The film is about a failing director's struggles to make a new movie while dealing with his cranky older brother and his estranged wife's demand for a divorce.
The film's real and fictional director both hail from Gunma Prefecture, have one previous film to their credit — Osaki's is the 2006 drama "Catchball-ya" ("The Catch Man") — and are old friends with the scriptwriter for their new project (in Osaki's case, Shin Adachi).
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.