Physically separated from her father and at odds with her distraught mother, a girl must negotiate her own passage to maturity.
Direction
Sōmai's long takes force you to witness everything.
Acting
Tabata's performance—actual child, zero precociousness.
Director
Shinji Sōmai
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of Japan's 1990s 'child POV' wave, when filmmakers stopped using kids as symbols and started treating them as witnesses.
Tomoko Tabata was literally discovered in a department store; this was her first role. She was 11. Some people are just born to break your heart.
JP
