Tony Takitani (2004)

I was rather looking forward to this Japanese film without really knowing much about it.  However it was so slight, sketchy and minimalist that I was reminded of some Taiwanese movies that drive me up the spout.  Based on a short story (published in the New Yorker a few years back), it is basically a tale of loneliness.  Our hero (although that is hardly the right word here) has been given his "American" name by his jazz-playing father who escaped Japan during the war and who returned under a cloud.  Tony has always more or less looked after himself -- and the transition from child to mature adult is staggeringly swift in terms of plot development.  He makes a good living as a technical illustrator but suddenly realises that something is missing from his life when he meets and woos a much younger girl.  Their marriage is happy, but  overshadowed by her compulsive shopping; when he suggests that she might curb this compulsion, she becomes so distracted that she dies in a car crash.  He then advertises for someone of the same size to come to work for him and to wear the racks and racks of unworn designer clothing.  The girl he settles upon (played by the same actress) is so overwhelmed by the richness of the garments that she dissolves in unstoppable tears.  Tony realises that his plan is untenable and sells off the clothing, in the same way that he later sells off the few mementos left to him by his father.  He is again alone, although he can't quite forget the tears of the ringer girl.