Ashima
(USA, 86 min.)
Dir. Kenji Tsukamoto
Kenji Tsukamoto’s documentary about Ashima Shiraishi works hard to ensure that non-rock climbers understand just what a star Ashima is in the climbing world. Ashima takes great pains to explain what a V14 climb means (an expert-level climb that Ashima was working towards “solving,” i.e. climbing) in order to put into context the level of talent she displayed as a 13-year-old climber. Although those efforts are greatly appreciated, the film thrives when it moves beyond the boulders and terminology.
Ashima, filmed nine years ago, follows the documentary’s namesake in her quest to become the youngest climber and second-ever female climber to achieve a V14 climb, specifically Golden Shadow in Rockland, South Africa. The opening moments of the film show Ashima and her father, Hisatoshi Shiraishi, training and struggling with the climb. Clearly frustrated, Hisatoshi assures his daughter and encourages her to give it one more try.
The Shiraishi family grants Tsukamoto an incredible amount of access into their home life and Ashima’s training. The director joins the family for meals, catches the odd argument, and documents Ashima’s life outside of rock climbing, which for a 13-year-old, mainly comprised of homework. What results in this shared trust is an intimate portrait of a family and the distillation of a complex father-daughter/coach-athlete relationship.
Tsukamoto and the Shiraishis unapologetically show through this unvarnished portrait the blood, sweat, and tears that Ashima shed to succeed in rock climbing. Hisatoshi speaks to her harshly, which as a coach may be par for the course, but as a father speaking to his daughter, his words cut deeply and uniquely. By opting for the cinéma vérité approach, Tsukamoto leaves Hisatoshi and Ashima’s interactions for the audience to analyze. For some, Ashima’s tears will bring back unpleasant childhood memories, and for others, those moments are simply a rite of passage.
It’s a relatively simple and perhaps even obvious narrative to place at the heart of Ashima, but in doing so, Tsukamoto unlocks a multitude of themes prevalent across sports, parenting, the Asian diaspora, youth culture, immigration, and the “American Dream.” Tsukamoto sensibly doesn’t draw any conclusions about these themes — not even raising them to Ashima herself. Rather, he keeps the camera trained on her in her darkest moments and her lightest ones, showing audiences how she deals with the strains and pressures, at times thriving and other times crumbling beneath it, while also exhibiting a deep love and appreciation for her parents and their sacrifices.
Like any good sports documentary, the thoughts left behind are rarely about sports itself — it’s the person behind the athlete, the training, and the village supporting them that makes for a compelling story. Tsukamoto not only finds Ashima the person in this film, he finds the soul of the Shiraishi family that permeates throughout Ashima’s career and achievements without taking away from her individuality, instead encouraging it.
