Toma lives in a small riverside town with his brutish father and his father's girlfriend. Witnessing his father's predilections for abuse, Toma becomes anxious that he will have inherited those urges.
Acting
Masaki Suda's trembling restraint — every swallowed scream counts.
Cinematography
The river as prison: murky, reflective, going nowhere.
Director
Shinji Aoyama
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Set in the late Shōwa era, the film captures Japan's economic bubble collapse — the 'lost decade' as emotional stagnation, not just financial.
Director Shinji Aoyama called this his 'anti-eureka' film — unlike his breakthrough, there's no transcendent release, only water closing overhead.
JP
