North Bend Film Festival movie review: 'Code Name: Nagasaki'

(Image courtesy of North Bend Film Festival)

Striking noir vignettes and candid interviews chronicle an emotionally wrought and introspective search for answers in the documentary 'Code Name: Nagasaki' (screening during the 2021 North Bend Film Festival).

In short: Friends and filmmakers Marius and Fredrik decide to put their skills to a unique challenge: finding Marius' long lost Japanese mother.

'Nagasaki' upfront establishes that Marius hasn't had any contact with his estranged mother in more than 25 years. The documentary's premise is very straightforward - Marius' mother apparently abruptly abandoned her family in Norway, returned to Japan and cut off all communication with Marius. This is the jumping off point for Marius and Fredrik's film, which documents Marius' search, as they openly ponder all the possible facets of this odd estrangement. Why did she leave? Where did she go? What happened after she left.

There are two distinct halves to 'Nagasaki': Marius and Fredrik as filmmakers and Marius and Fredrik as investigators. Half of the film has the intimacy of a personal journal, as the two friends chronicle their search for Marius' mother. The fact that most of these scenes are filmed on everyday camcorders gives the documentary a home video feel - a texture that engenders authenticity. The active search for Marius’ mother is the logistical plot driver for 'Nagasaki,' the narrative backbone for the film's core: the emotional journey inherent to such a personal endeavor.

Marius and Fredrik's filmed vignettes are the outward manifestation of the apprehension and doubt the two friends voice as they discuss their search. In the film's opening moments, they outright consider the possibility that the documentary might not have a happy or even fulfilling resolution at all. A nervous energy permeates the rest of 'Nagasaki.' The search for Marius' mother forces Marius to wonder what his birth mother would think of her grown son, while dredging up feelings of his own disconnection to Japanese heritage. The bulk of the film lives in their hopes for what might happen when or if Marius finds his mother - layered against their worries they will not be able to find her.

The filmmakers prime the audience, from the very start, that they don't know how the story will end. This frees the documentary to go in any direction, releasing it from expectation and allowing the emotional journey - the angsts and worries and hopes - take center stage.

Final verdict: The film's creative and striking dichotomy elegantly weaves together the plot and the emotional undercurrent to tell one complete personal story.

Score: 3.5/5

''Code Name: Nagasaki' screens during the 2021 North Bend Film Festival. This documentary is not yet rated has a runtime of 70 minutes.