Awards and festivals

Film description

Sachio Kinugasa is a renown writer who lives off his success and noble, maturing beauty. When his wife dies in an accident, he finds the perfect words to express his inconsolable grief, but the refined, ostensibly deep form seems devoid of emotions. Unexpectedly, into his life comes Yoichi, a widower whose late wife died in the same accident, leaving him alone with two children. Acting on impulse, Sachio, somehow despite himself, decides to help the forlorn family.

It's hard to imagine two characters that would be more different – Yoichi is a candid, straightforward trucker (played by the rockman, Pistol Takehara), Sachio is a refined, gallant intellectual, a self-appointed authority (a well-balanced role by Masahiro Motoki from "Departures"). Their encounter will be a challenge – and an opportunity – for both of them.

Nishikawa lightly leads the viewer through this story of maturation and inner transformation, told without pathos, but with great psychological sensitivity. Balancing out the dramatic moments with subtle humor, she shows a clash of two worlds, two narrations of masculinity, family, life goals. With the nuanced, layered script, the director once again proves she is a worthy heiress of the best traditions of Japanese cinema by Ozu or Mizuguchi. Her leisurely style of narration combines well with a jazzy soundtrack and the camerawork of Hirokazu Koreeda's collaborator, Yutaki Yamazaki.

Jagoda Murczyńska