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All About Our House AKA Minna no ie
R2 - Japan - Toho Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (19th November 2015). |
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The Film
 "All About Our House" AKA "Minna no ie" (2001) Naosuke Iijima (played by Naoki Tanaka) and Tamiko Iijima (played by Akiko Yagi) are a married couple planning to have their house constructed. They have already purchased open land and the next step is for them to have the house designed and built. Tamiko suggests meeting with her old college friend who became an architect, Yanagisawa (played by Toshiaki Karasawa). Suave, strict, and adamant, Yanagisawa has designed cafes that he designed precisely to his specifications, and if any minor detail is slighty differing to his specs, it sets him off in a tantrum. He is willing to design the house for them, though he tells them that he is not a licensed architect, so they would need a contractor to actually build the house, which leads Tamiko to ask her father, Choichiro (played by Kunie Tanaka) who is a retired carpenter, a man proud of his 50 years of hard work. But when the architect and the carpenter discuss their plans, it leads to a power struggle. Yanagisawa insists on certain details such as the front door opening inward and not having a pillar as a central structure. Choichiro argues that Japanese houses should have doors open outward to increase space and a central pillar is necessary. He also suggests a Japanese room be placed while Yanagisawa says it is out of the question, as his Americanized style of design would not allow it. Yanagisawa’s designs are measured in inches, which causes problems as Choichiro has never used anything other than metric measurements for construction. Naoki’s mother (played by Yoko Nogiwa) also comes into the fold with her talks of how feng-shui is important with the placement of rooms, doors, and windows in each room. Naosuke is too busy at work as a writer for the comedy TV series “Nutty Apartments” and doesn’t have much time to suggest much about the full design, and neither does Tamiko with her teaching job, which causes delays on the actual construction, with no one being able to decide on anything concretely. Will their house ever get constructed? And if it does, whose house will it really be? Writer and director Koki Mitani follows up his critical and commercial success of 1997’s “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” a full 4 years later in 2001 with “All About Our House”. Quite different from the screwball comedy of his feature directorial debut, “All About Our House” presents a more standard comedy-drama featuring a clash of generations, ideals, and personalities. Of course each character has their minor quirks that really bring the characters to life and Mitani certainly put a lot of effort into minor details, with even some details going far beyond what many other writers or directors would do. Some silly character quirks found are Yanagisawa’s terrible driving skills that make anyone sick after a ride with him, Naosuke’s constant wanting to “fit in”, even though he has no experience in design or carpentry, and building engineer Suga (played by Akira Shirai) always nervously trying to explain himself. But it’s the minute details that Mitani goes further with: For example, with Tamiki’s older sister Mieko (played by Michiko Shimizu), the character was supposed to be pregnant with a fourth child which is never mentioned in the story, but apparently the director told everyone about that aspect, except for the actress who played Mieko. In addition, her husband (played by Koichi Yamadera) in a dinner scene is the only one eating noodles while all others are eating barbecued meat, because it was told that the character does not like meat. Also, the carpenter character Arakawa Jr. (played by Tsuyoshi Ihara) drinks milk even though all others are drinking beer. Why? The director added all these subtle things to make the characters have a little something non-generic. Audiences will definitely find new things in repeated viewings. There are also some interesting cameos featured: Some characters from “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” are featured, such as Akira Fuse reprising his role, this time as a producer at TV Beng Teng, supposedly being promoted from his job at Radio Beng Teng from the previous film. Yasukiyo Umeno and Keiko Toda reprise their roles of Furukawa and Nokko, respectively. There are also some brief big name cameos, the first being the TV Beng Teng assistant played by Sanma Akashiya, who doesn’t have a single line in the film, though he is considered a “Comedy God” in Japanese entertainment, ironically for his ability to talk. The joke will be missed by international audiences as no one knows who he is outside of Japan. Another big cameo is the bartender who is in one short scene, played by now-world famous Hiroyuki Sanada. Already a huge star in Japan, but it was just a few years before his big international breakthroughs in “The Last Samurai”, “Sunshine”, “The Wolverine” and the TV series “Lost” in season 6. Shingo Katori, a member of the popular Japanese boy band SMAP has a minor role as the Shinto priest, would later have larger roles in Mitani's directed films "The Wow-Choten Hotel" (2006) and "Galaxy Turnpike" (2015). Another interesting casting choice was the American girlfriend of Yanagisawa, played by Erica Ash. Ash is currently known for her role on MADtv, but back in the early 2000’s she did modeling and back-up singing work in Japan. Originally Mitani had written the part for a Yokohama girl who had never left Japan, but was recast to a sexy black American girlfriend, further enhancing Yanagihara’s infatuation with American culture. Although the husband and wife should be the main characters traditionally, the top billed stars of the film are Karasawa playing the architect and Tanaka playing the father/carpenter, and rightfully so. The clash between the two men is what makes the story move forward, with the westernized modern artistic ideas of the young architect and the old fashioned and experienced knowledge of the carpenter being the driving force. The two men trying to outdo constantly in the restaurant scene with the salt and the constant name calling are examples of laughably silly scenes between them, but with the scene of the fight after the paint sabotage by Karasawa is an example of the seriousness in the rivalry. At first you would think the two men would never get along, but when the two actually start to find common ground, it is greatly satisfying. You could even make parallels between architect vs. engineer and writer vs director, with one person’s initial artistic idea gets interpreted by another, usually causing large differences, though with Mitani being both writer and director on this film, he only had to argue with himself for the creation. An interesting aspect for foreign audiences is the traditions of building a house in Japan. The blessing of the land by a Shinto priest before the start of construction, a speech having to be given, and a mandatory house warming for the end of construction are shown in the film in detail. Possibly the weakest point of the film comes from the husband and wife leads. For both, they barely had any experience in acting. Naoki Tanaka is a comedian, one half of the duo “Kokoriko”, known for variety TV shows, duo stand-up comedy on stage, though he had done some acting in a few TV dramas prior to “All About Our House”. For Akiko Yagi, she was a TV announcer and news anchor for Fuji TV, having very little experience in acting, but like Tanaka, a lot of time on television. They are the supposed “pillar” of the film but neither really carry the weight that is necessary, with their arguments over the construction and their relationship not having enough weight to truly give emotional depth. In addition, the wife’s work as a teacher was almost entirely cut from the film, so her character is the least developed of all the main leads. Not to say their performances are bad, as they actually do a fine job with their characters but it seems Mitani put more effort into the supporting characters rather than the two main. As for the style of “All About Our House”, Mitani shot the film with a brown and orange color palate, reflecting the colors of wood and warmth, which looks gorgeous. The cinematographer was Kenji Takama, who also lensed Mitani’s first feature, “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald”, which had a very different color palate, and was mostly shot indoors in a single studio, while “All About Our House” was shot in various locations and in various environments indoors and outdoors. Also employed for this film was what became the Mitani trademark through his previous film: the long one-shot-one-take. Quite a few scenes are done without cutaways or editing. The choreography of each actor and marks were very important with two specific scenes that truly stand out: The scene outside the house being constructed with a cast of about 20 people done with a crane shot for one shot, and also the scene at the restaurant which had probably the same amount of people, but done with only panning shots with focus changes, making it feel like the camera was one of the patrons of the restaurant. Visually it is a truly great looking film for such a low key subject. At the 2002 Japanese Academy Awards, Naoki Tanaka and Akiko Yagi both won awards for “Best Newcomer”, Tanaka also won for “Most Popular Performer”, while on technical merits, the film was nominated for Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Kunie Tanaka, and Best Screenplay. But just like it happened in 1997, the best picture for the year went to a Studio Ghibli production, for the film “Spirited Away”. Note the DVD is coded region 2 NTSC and can only be played back on region 2 or region free DVD players.
Video
Toho presents the film in the anamorphic 1.78:1 ratio in the NTSC standard. The colors of the brown and orange are represented very well with fine detail and depth. Film grain is visible and no DNR enhancement is applied, making a good film like transfer. It may not be up to standards of more recent high-def transfers since it is a DVD from 2001, it still holds up quite well. With Mitani’s previous Toho DVD of “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald”, it had the entire film plus all the extras on one disc, which caused the film to look a bit compressed and weak. For “All About Our House”, the film is presented on the first disc, a dual layer DVD all on its own for enough breathing room with no compression problems. A very good job by Toho. The film's runtime is 115:23. 
Audio
There are 2 film soundtracks available: Japanese DTS 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 The film does not scream for a DTS track since it is very dialogue based, but the DTS comes alive with the music soundtrack and with the very subtle sound effects. The Dolby Digital track also sounds very good but lacking the depth present in the DTS track. Dialogue is always clear and mostly center based, though at times they are panned to the left and right depending on the scene. There are optional English and Japanese subtitles available for the main feature, both in a white font. The English subtitles were supervised by Mitani as he was careful to have his humor translated in the best way possible for international audiences. There are no instances of grammar or spelling errors.
Extras
This is a 2-disc edition, with the film on the first disc with a commentary track. All other extras are on the second disc. And sadly for non-Japanese speakers, almost all the extras are not English friendly. DISC ONE Audio commentary with director/writer Koki Mitani, actor Naoki Tanaka, and actress Akiko Yagi Mitani leads the way with the commentary, as he explains in details about the shoot, the look, the casting choices, as well as asking Tanaka and Yagi questions about their work on the film. in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono DISC TWO Making of the Film This section includes documentaries, deleted scenes, galleries, and trailers. - Photo Gallery (42 stills) Still photos taken from on the film set. - Image Design (26 stills) A series of sketches and designs for the construction of the house - Deleted Scenes (with optional director’s commentary) (7:09) A series of deleted and extended scenes are presented, with some scenes being unnecessary. 2 scenes that help in character development is of Tamiko at her workplace at school, and also Tamiko’s parents playing “Donkey Kong 64”. As Mitani states in the commentary, he wanted to make a character point for Tamiko’s mother to be very good at the game. Even with the game footage licensed by Nintendo, it was not featured in the final cut or even mentioned. in non-anamorphic 1.78:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo - Trailers -- Teaser (0:35) Has no footage from the film itself, but has Mitani narrating that it is his follow-up to “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald”, and people should turn off their cellphones in the theater. in non-anamorphic 1.78:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo -- TV Spots (0:33) 2 TV spots for Fuji TV. in non-anamorphic 1.78:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo -- Trailer (1:06) Mitani himself appears on camera explaining who the characters are and the basic story being about a house being built, with a series of clips from the film. in non-anamorphic 1.78:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo -- Unused Trailer (with optional director’s commentary) (0:57) 2 takes of the unused trailer is presented in full with clapperboard markers. Mitani also appears on camera for these and gives an optional commentary on why it didn’t work and he felt bad for having Akiko Yagi get hit on the head. in non-anamorphic 1.78:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo - “Minna no Minna no ie: Making of All About Our House” documentary (43:27) In a continuation of the gag from the “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” DVD, this faux TV series hosted by Japan Times writer Mark Schilling gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of “All About Our House”. Schilling interviews Koki Mitani in which Schilling and Mitani speak together in English, but with Japanese voiceover added. Mitani is not a fluent English speaker and it is obvious he is reading cue cards of a scripted interview. Though it is “fake”, they talk about important aspects such as the inspiration for the story, casting, color palate, inspirations by other directors such as Billy Wilder and Woody Allen, and more. To one-up the documentary’s faux-international nature, Kunie Tanaka, Toshiaki Karasawa, and Naoki Tanaka are also interviewed in English, without voiceover, but with Japanese subtitles. Kunie Tanaka and Naoki Tanaka have some difficulty with their cue card reading making it a bit hard to understand their English at times. Karasawa speaks English pretty well, actually, and is especially funny with his outburst on why they have to do all the promotional spots in English. Akiko Yagi is also interviewed, but as another twist, she speaks entirely in French with Japanese subtitles. in 1.33:1, in English, Japanese, and French with Japanese voiceover for the English portions, with burned-in English subtitles for the Japanese portions, with burned-in Japanese subtitles for the English and French portions. - “Mezamashi TV presents: All About Our House” TV documentary (41:08) The Fuji TV morning news program “Mezamashi TV” broadcast over a series of weeks some short behind-the-scenes featurettes. They range from cast interviews, behind the scenes footage, premiere footage, and the cast and director visiting the “Mezamashi TV” studio just before the Japan premiere. All the featurettes are collected into one full documentary here. There are on-set interviews with the cast and crew and general messing around rather than a comprehensive documentary. 1.33:1, in English, Japanese with burned-in Japanese subtitles for the English portions. Making of the House This portion features about the house which they built 2: one in studio for indoor sets, and one that was actually built from start to finish. - “The Process” (text screens) Various text screens in Japanese on the construction process - “Design Sketch” (16 stills) A series of designs. - “3D CG Simulation” (1:06) The short clip that is featured in the film on Karasawa’s computer is shown in full - “The Iijima House: From Start to Finish” (2:06) Raw footage of the construction in montage form. - “Buidling a Paper IIjima House Replica” (DVD-ROM) Want to make a miniature version of the house? Enter the DVD into the DVD-ROM drive for instructions and printable paper. Cast & Characters - Toshiaki Karasawa (as Hidetoshi Yanagisawa) (text bio, audio intro, and interview (5:53)) - Kunie Tanaka (as Choichiro Iwata) (text bio, audio intro, and interview (6:33)) - Naoki Tanaka (as Naosuke Iijima) (text bio, audio intro, and interview (9:45)) - Akiko Yagi (as Tamiko Iijima) (text bio, audio intro, and interview (9:45)) - Nobuo Yana (as Arakawa Senior) (text bio, audio intro) - Takashi Ebata (as Sano) (text bio, audio intro) - Shobun Inoue (as Yagida) (text bio, audio intro) - Hyoe Enoki (as Yaneda) (text bio, audio intro) - Teruo Matsuyama (as Matsumae) (text bio, audio intro) - Kojiro Matsumoto (as Nagai) (text bio, audio intro) - Tsuyoshi Ihara (as Arakawa Junior) (text bio, audio intro) - Akira Shirai (as Suga) (text bio, audio intro) - Jitsuko Yoshimura (as Mitsuyo Iwata) (text bio, audio intro) - Yoko Nogiwa (as Iijima Setsuko) (text bio, audio intro) - Mitsuko Shimizu (as Mieko Aonuma) (text bio, audio intro, and interview (3:35)) - Koichi Yamadera (as Kikuma Aonuma) (text bio, audio intro, and interview (3:35)) - Kiichi Nakai (as himself) (text bio) - Akira Fuse (text bio, audio intro) - Yoshimasa Kondo (as the Janitor of the apartment house) (text bio) - Shozo Endo (as the Martian) (text bio, Interview (1:27)) - Zen Kajihara (as Kent-chan) (text bio & audio introduction) - Keiko Toda (as the Customer at the bar) (text bio) - Yasukio Umeno (as the Customer at the bar) (text bio) - Fumiyo Kohinata (as the Master with the apron) (text bio) - Yutaka Matsushine (as the Tall man) (text bio) - Hitomi Sato (as the Woman using a cellular phone) (text bio) - Erica Ash (as Naomi) (text bio, audio intro) - Cast Staff List Click on an actor’s face to access a text biography of the person (written in Japanese). Some of the profiles have an audio intro by Mitani, who talks for about 10 seconds about the character. Some also have an additional interview with the actor. Note the interview with Naoki Tanaka and Akiko Yagi are identical, as they are interviewed together, as well as the Mitsuko Shimizu and Koichi Yamadera’s interviews being identical for the same reason as mentioned above. in 1.33:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Staff - Koki Mitani (Director) (text bio, bibliography, sketch) -- On Set (3:59) -- A Message (1:42) - Takayuki Hattori (Music) (text bio) - Kenji Takama (Cinematography) (text bio) - Masamichi Uwabo (Lighting) (text bio) - Tetsuo Segawa (Recording) (text bio) - Fumio Ogawa (Art Direction) (text bio) - Soichi Ueno (Editing) (text bio) - Film Staff List - DVD Staff List The staff profiles text pages are also in Japanese, with Mitani’s only having some additional footage. As with the Japanese DVD of “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald”, Mitani has put together an impressive and creative amount of supplemental figure, both intriguing and entertaining, rather than the usual EPK fluff pieces that flood the usual marketplace. It’s an absolutely perfect package of extras.
Packaging
Early Japanese DVD cases were packaged in CD-size jewel cases, and this one is packaged in a double size jewel case. The jewel case features the great hand-drawn poster artwork. The simplistic white slipcase is embossed with the title, and a little hole is cut out to feature the drawing of the house in the hole when the jewel case is slipped inside.
Overall
“All About Our House” is a “cute” sophomore effort from writer and director Mitani. It has the laughs and the fun of Mitani’s trademark work with many memorable characters, but it lacks the emotional depth to really push it toward a “classic” film. The Japanese Toho DVD has great supplements supervised and curated by Mitani himself which is sadly missing from the non-Japanese releases.
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