Relatives gather from afar in wintery Ashibetsu upon the death of patriarch Mitsuo. A mysterious woman named Nobuko suddenly shows up. Her appearance gradually exposes wartime secrets and Mitsuo's unknown past.
Direction
Obayashi's final period piece, cancer-ridden and defiantly maximalist.
Cinematography
Hokkaido snow as burial ground and confession booth.
Writing
Seven weeks to exhale secrets held for seventy years.
Director
Nobuhiko Obayashi
Tōru Shinagawa
Mitsuo
Takako Tokiwa
Nobuko
Yumi Adachi
Ayano
Takao Itō
Kunio Ohno
Saki Terashima
Kanna Suzuki
Hirona Yamazaki
Kasane Suzuki
Natsuki Harada
Ryoko Takahashi
Yutaka Matsushige
Haruhiko Suzuki
Shunsuke Kubozuka
Akihito Suzuki
Tomoka Shibayama
Setsuko Suzuki
Takehiro Murata
Fuyuki Suzuki
Tomoko Saitō
Yuriko Inoue
Toshie Negishi
Store’s woman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Obayashi shot this while dying of cancer, making it his final statement on Japanese imperial history—he literally raced death to finish.
Ashibetsu, Hokkaido was a coal-mining hub using Korean forced labor; Mitsuo's hidden past directly references this erased history. Nobuko's existence forces confrontation with what the town—and family—chose to forget.
JP
