Rating: 5/5
Asian Movie Challenge 2023 | 1/52 | Kinema Junpo Awards Winner
The Fukishimas have just moved into a small Tokyo apartment. Keiko introduces herself and Akira to the landlord. When Keiko says it’s only the two of them, Akira looks at the camera. The two gingerly carry their suitcases, letting the movers handle the others. Once everything settles, they open the suitcases to reveal Shigeru and Yuki, Keiko’s two youngest children. The fifth child, Kyoko, takes a night train to the apartment.
Keiko has a new boyfriend who promises to marry her. She believes if he follows through, everyone can live together, and all the kids can attend school. Of course, this is not the first time she’s made that promise to Akira, her eldest son. Each kid comes from a different father, and none are in the picture.
One morning, Akira wakes up to find a letter from his mother saying she will be gone for a while and to look after Kyoko, Shigeru, and Yuki. With an envelope full of Yen, Akira must figure out how to pay the bills and care for his siblings until she returns.
The promise of love is a terrible beast. You try over and over, hoping this one will be the one who stays around, but something goes wrong—you fuck it up, they fuck it up—and you’re alone again. To try again, some folks would call that resilience. Others would call it stupidity.
When kids are in the picture, people might call you selfish. My mom was someone I considered selfish. She would start relationships with volatile men, bringing them into our home. “Am I not allowed to be happy?” she would say when we’d ask her why she kept trying. Last I heard, she married again.
The textures of everyday life fill every scene — each moment feels indescribably human, from the children’s piano on the shelf to the new grocer having trouble opening the bag.
As the film covers a year, filming took place over a year, with everything filmed chronologically, so the passage of time is authentic. It helps that Kore-eda used discreet cameras to capture several of the children’s performances. He also didn’t give them “roles,” encouraging the kids to be themselves and let character derive from that. The resulting performances are remarkable.
My heart hurts so much from watching this — I started crying around 20 minutes in, and it didn’t let up. Unlike Shoplifters, which explored similar themes, this film does not dissolve into melodrama. The result is tragic and unbelievably beautiful.
I don’t know if I can watch this one again.