Kaoru, a wealthy woman whose youth is fading, abandons the hustle and bustle of the city to live a peaceful life in a house on the coast. There she takes care of an old deaf, dumb and blind man as if he were an insect, a child or a pet. He can’t do anything for himself, so she feeds him and accompanies him on his walks. This strong mutual dependency offers Kaoru an escape from society and allows her to free herself from restrictions imposed by common sense.
Acting
Kyoka Suzuki's dead-eyed serenity masks volcanic repression
Direction
Aoyama's static frames make discomfort feel like meditation
Cinematography
Seaside isolation so beautiful it hurts
Director
Shinji Aoyama
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of Japan's 2000s 'slow cinema' movement, where narrative pleasure was considered suspiciously Western.
Aoyama has called this his 'anti-Tokyo' film; every frame rejects the urban velocity of his earlier work like Eureka.
JP
