By now, dozens of Japanese films have depicted the trials and tribulations of old age, especially dementia, in all its forms. This reflects reality: Japan is a country where elementary schools are closing and nursing homes are booming.
Shuichi Okita’s take on this reality is more upbeat than the genre standard, however. His earlier films “Ecotherapy Getaway Holiday” (2014) and “Mori, The Artist’s Habitat” (2018) feature elderly protagonists who find ways to survive and thrive, despite their frailties — mental or physical. And for all their quirky gags and feel-good messaging, these films do not treat old age as a joke or a stroll into a glowing sunset. They present it with shades-of-gray complexity.
So it is with “Ora, Ora Be Goin’ Alone,” a film based on Chisako Wakatake’s award-winning, best-selling novel. The protagonist, Momoko (Yuko Tanaka), is a widow living alone in a suburban house somewhere in Tokyo. She first came to the capital from her native Tohoku in 1964, the year of the first Tokyo Olympics.