Awholefilmbuiltaroundasingleword:“Tamaran!”ThefirsttimewehearitiswhenHinako’sfatherfulminatesonthephoneagainstatyphoon:“Tamaran!”,“unbearable!”.Thewordappearsforthesecondtimeinthetitleofabookthatabooksellergivestoastudentwhowantstoreadabout“hometowns”:TamaranHill.Theadjectivehasbecomeapropernoun,both“reallyevocativeandprofound”,accordingtothebookseller.Ontheplatformandthenonthetrainthattakesherbackhome,Hinakoreads.Thereadingimmediatelystartstoreflectherownlife,sentencesleadherbacktoherorigins,tothepastofherfamily,tohersorrows.Relatingandrepresentingthisreflectionthroughabouncinggamebetweensentencesandshots–suchisthechallengeofthefilm,whichistakenupthroughthemostgenerous,boldandrigoroustypeofplasticandnarrativeinventiveness.Wordsarebroughttolife,thepastisrevivedwithapencilinthewhitenessthatbringstogetherimageandpage,andthatturnsoneintotheother.Howdoyougofromasinglewordtoafilm?Throughabookanditsreading,then;butalso,throughtheseriesofbooksinwhichHinakotracksdowntheword“tamaran”anditspolysemy.TheJapanesenovelTamaranHillinspiredTadasukeKotani’sfilm.Itsauthor,SeijiKuroi,makesanappearance,asawriterwhoconfideshisguidingprincipletothestudent:“charactersaremadeofwords.Wordshavetheirownvitality,warmthandpower.Charactersarisefromtheactionsofsuchwords.”BecauseKotanihasdaredtakingthewritertohisword,thefilmisfarfromamereliteraryadaptation–itisamadlyambitiousandfullymasteredattempt
totranslateliteratureintofilm.Because“translationisaform”(W.Benjamin),andTamaranHill’sdirectorbelongstotherarespeciesofthetrueinventorsofform.Hisinvention?Anactionfilmwhoseheroisaword.(C.N.)

有一天雪地大草原里，莫名其妙多出一颗蛋，这颗蛋不安份地咕拉咕拉的动来动去，一个不小心就滚出了兔子爷爷的洞穴哩，本来兔子爷爷和蝙蝠母子正专注的看电视，突如其来的巨大声响，吓得兔子爷爷连眼镜都摔在地上，兔...