That was a very good introduction by the director, Toshiaki Toyoda, because as the film develops, the viewer quickly realizes that what the family protrays outwardly is a far cry from what they feel inside. The mother is hopelessly depressed, the dad cheats on the wife, the daughter skips school to hang out with various guys at love motels, while the son walks around town alone, secluded from the world by his headphones.

The movie was appropriately titled “Hanging Garden” because the apartment complex where the family lived in loosely resembled the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. More importantly, the fact that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon most likely never existed in the manner that was described by writers and poets was a perfect metaphor for the non-existent type of “Happiness” that the Kyobashi family tried to portray outwardly to the public. The families motto of “Never keeping secrets from each other” was also an illusion, similar to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Notice the perfectly placed imagery of the Hanging Gardens painted above the ceiling light in their dining room.

I absolutely loved the way the film gradually introduced facts about each of the family members, in a manner similar to the way someone would learn facts about a family they actually know and may hold false perceptions about. The mother, with that false smile, seemed like a perfect mom, happy and nice. Yet with each scene, the true nature of the mother was revealed - a frail human being, buried with sadness from her childhood past. The mother works at a Soba restaurant and when one of her co-workers taunts her, she turns around and tells the manager that her co-worker has a sexually transmitted disease. She also has a daydream that she stabs her co-worker with a fork, with blood gushing out like a scene straight out of Ringu or Ju-On! The father seems like a go-lucky dedicated father as well. Soon we see him in a love motel, with a dominatrix. Yeah perceptions are just that…perceptions.

Everything starts to fall apart during a birthday party/dinner the family holds for a tutor and Eriko’s own mother. The lies that the family members have been keeping from each other, come hurling out in the manner of the vomit that tutor projects outwards, after she drinks too much wine. As the family starts to fall apart, they all start to look within themselves to solve the problems that exists in their lives. The center of the Kyobashi family is the mother, Eriko. As she sinks lower into depressions, a phone call from her mother is what ultimately turns things around for her. Her mother imparts one more bit of wisdom before she hangs up, which is “…important secrets you take to the grave.”

Hanging Gardens is a character driven drama pertaining to the story of a family struggling to find the way to happiness. It’s not your typical drama, the film has some unusual dream sequences that vary from shocking to profound, while the camera frequently rotates in a circular fashion emulating the way life revolves around in a circular fashion. This is the first time I have gotten a chance to see a film by Toshiaki Toyoda and I was utterly impressed. I have a feeling that if you enjoyed Sam Mendes “American Beauty” and Todd Solondz “Happiness” you will love Hanging Garden. Check it out.