Sen wa, boku wo egaku
The unambitious student Sōsuke Aoyama helps to install an exhibition of Sumi-e, traditional Japanese ink painting.
One painting touches him deeply. The renowned master of ink painting, Kozan Shinoda, who is in charge of the exhibition, spontaneously invites him to become his uchideshi or at least his student and introduces him to the world of this art.
Title: 線は、僕を描く Sen wa, boku wo egaku
International Title: The lines that define me.
Published: 2022
Length: 107 minutes
Staff
Director: Norihiro Koizumi
Script: Sho Kataoka, Norihiro Koizumi, Hiromasa Togami
Music: Takahiro Ikeda
Camera: Hiroki Ando
Cast
Ryusei Yokohama: Sōsuke Aoyama
Tomokazu Miura: Kozan Shinoda
Yōsuke Eguchi: Nishihama
Kaya Kiyohara: Chiaki Shinoda
Kanata Hosoda: Komae
Sora Inoue: Sasakubo
Yumi Kawai: Kawagishi
Atom Shukugawa: Takiyanagi
Yasuko Tomita: Suizan Todo
Ken'ichi Yajima: Kunieda
Riccardo Balzarini: French minister
In the film, law student Sōsuke Aoyama helps set up a sumi-e exhibition in a temple. This is his first direct contact with the world of sumi-e. A work showing a chrysanthemum touches him deeply. We find out the reasons later in the film.
The curator of the exhibition, Master Kozan Shinoda, is impressed by Sōsuke and suggests that he become his uchideshi (direct student). Sōsuke feels overwhelmed, but accepts to attend Kozan Sensei's school as only a student. There he also meets Chiaki Shinoda, a granddaughter of the master who had drawn the chrysanthemum. His fellow students Komae and Kawagishi, who are already fans of sumi-e, are very keen to meet the attractive and already quite famous Chiaki. So they organize a lecture with her at the university. In this way, the viewer receives an introduction to sumi-e.
It is only later that we learn that Sōsuke is suffering from a trauma. He lost his family three years ago. His fellow student Komae gives him a hard talk about his behavior. So he pulls himself together and visits for the first time the scene of the accident together with Chiaki, who has also fallen into depression in the meantime. Both then overcome their blockages and Sōsuke earnes even a prize at the competition for the 4-Seasons-Award.
The film is based on a novel by Hiromasa Togami, who also contributed to the screenplay. The novel was published in 2018 under the title "Black and White Flower Buds" (黒白の花蕾) and won the 59th Mephisto Award. In 2019, the novel was republished by Kodansha under its current title (線は、僕を描く). From September 2019 to March 2020, the story was published as a four-volume manga. The film followed in 2022. The film version differs significantly from the books.
of Sumi-e.
The main theme of the film is the overcoming of Sōsuke Aoyama's traumas through the study of Sumi-e. A similar constellation can be found in the 2018 film "Every Day is a Good Day", in which the main actress goes through a personal development studying the tea ceremony. The film shows mostly a traditional Japanese ambience, which may be quite interesting for the western viewer.
According to his granddaughter Chiaki, Sumi-e Master Kozan Shinoda is a bad teacher. First Sōsuke has to work hard repeating for example the preparation of the ink many many times. Later he has to figure out everything himself, without help from the teacher.
The film also deals with how to eat well - not ready-made food - and that you can buy food directly from the producer, at the "farm shop".
The English title "The lines that define me" may be misleading. 'Defining' has the aspect of determining, but here it means that the lines describe the person who drew them. Therefore, the title should be "The lines that describe me".
The film is definitely a well-made introduction to the art of Sumi-e with many beautiful pictures and is worth seeing it for that reason alone.
