I Was a Simple Man, a film by Christopher Makoto Yogi, with Steve Iwamoto

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I Was a Simple Man, a film by Christopher Makoto Yogi, with Steve Iwamoto

8 August 2024

Made in 2021, I Was a Simple Man, trailer, is the third feature of American writer and filmmaker Christopher Makoto Yogi, who also wrote the screenplay. Masao Matsuyoshi (Steve Iwamoto), an elderly man who has spent most of his life in Hawaii, is terminally ill, and has months to live. As he nears death, he looks back on his life, often with regret.

Recollections of his late wife Grace (Constance Wu), his estranged daughter Kati (Chanel Akiko Hirai), whom he left in the care of other family members, and grandson Gavin (Kanoa Goo), who both live elsewhere, dominate his troubled thoughts. As David Ehrlich, writing for Indie Wire, notes: just because people don’t stay behind doesn’t mean they ever leave.

This is a story that will require the patience of some viewers, as it meanders back and forth through time, and ethereal, earthy locations, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The finale, though muted, is poignant. We really die alone, perhaps as we (really) lived. But you die with yourself.