It's not yet half way through February and I'm raising the bat for the first time as the 50-film mark is passed.
And I think it is apt that the milestone was achieved with Sawako Decides because the way I got to see this movie reflects everything about this year's challenge.
Firstly, it isn't listed by either the Film Distributors' Association or the UK Film Council.
But I eventually discovered it is playing at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, after spying a mention on www.filmdates.co.uk
The only problem is that filmdates has it down as Kawa no soko kara konnichi wa, the Japanese title. This left me completely bamboozled.
Thus, I turned to the world of social networking and, through Twitter, messaged one of my followers, Humphrey, better know as 'filminjapan'
He told me the English title was Sawako Decides and it was being distributed by Third Window Films.
Bingo! I emailed them and a screener was shoved in the post by its MD. So thanks Adam and Humphrey.
So to the review.
From the start it is clear that Yuya Ishii's film is going to be offbeat (the first scene shows a colonic irrigation procedure being carried out - don't worry you don't see any of the gunky stuff).
The bum being flushed is that of Sawako, a young women who has been in Tokyo for five years in a mundane job with a mundane boyfriend.
In her own admittance she is a "lower-middling'' woman trying to tough it out in a life on which she can have little impact. Her favourite phrase is "It can't be helped.''
Her equally ineffectual boyfriend is divorced but is bringing up a young daughter. He knits jumpers for a hobby!
But despite him being wetter than a weekend in Manchester, he manages to persuade Sawako that she needs to go back to her homeland and be with her sick father and take over his ailing clam-packing company.
She agrees, but thanks to deeds of her past, the locals don't exactly invite her back with open arms.
Sawako pretends their reaction is water off a duck's back but sooner or later she will be forced to make key decisions on her future. Will she stay in the country? Will she be able to reconcile with her father? And will she marry her "below average'' boyfriend?
I have a real soft spot for Japanese films. I think it is because the culture is so very different that I find that every time I watch one I discover something new about the land of the rising sun.
The minus factor is that I am sure there are certain elements of humour I just don't pick up.
Nevertheless, despite being on the slow side there is something rich about Sawako and a proof that even in those of us who feel we might be bog average, there is something special after all.
I'll give it 6/10
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