The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme: I Go Gaga, My Dear (ぼけますから、よろしくお願いします。)

I GO GAGA, MY DEAR © 2018 “I Go Gaga, My Dear" Film Partners

Director Naoko Nobutomo opened up her latest documentary, I Go Gaga, My Dear, at Square Chapel of Arts Centre in Halifax with a gentle albeit staunch reminder that her film is not a tragedy. While its themes are dark and often profoundly upsetting, it is the balance and highlighting of the love of her mother and father — in their joint strength and pride, regardless of their traumatic predicament — that crafts a superb feature.

I Go Gaga, My Dear is one part an eye-opening account of the debilitating disease that is dementia and the other a captivating love letter to those who have given the director everything possible in life: her mother and father. The documentary, from its first few seconds to its gut-punching finish, is an emotionally engulfing journey. Shot exclusively on a home camcorder, Nobutomo explores and examines every minimalistic nook and cranny of her parents' lives — their happiest and most tragic. 

Nobutomo captures the adorable and engaging pair in their most authentic and trusted moments. Ranging from their small conversations at dinner, intimate sleeping arrangements and daily tasks, and later showcasing the latter stages of how these moments have been effected and disturbed by this inexplicit illness.

These delicately captured home video-esque moments craft an all-compelling and engaging atmosphere. Partly to convey a profoundly affective emotional connection to her parents' trajectories but also to showcase how fast and relentless the disease that takes over Naoko's mother within the space of a year, fully destabilising and disrupting their lives. Granted, the structure here is tonally crafted to immerse the viewer in the most devastating fashion and to that, Nobutomo fully succeeds. 

However, the Japanese director does not allow the subject and theme to drown in tragedy completely. There is a glimmer of hope that surrounds the feature — these two old souls at the ripe ages of their late nineties and eighties are still growing old together. They still defy the diagnosis and the limits of their ages with positive attitudes present. Said underbelly of humour and farcical nature warms this feature with the charisma and charm of the two subjects always on show, an attribute that elevates this heartbreaking narrative into a heartwarming and enlightening venture that is expertly crafted. 

This review is brought to you with the help from Dave Garratt and The Square Chapel of Arts Centre in Halifax. Who without their kind generosity could not have made this review possible