Your husband vanishes, the neighbors whisper 'dismemberment,' and a man with a parasol orders mystery herbs. Just another Tuesday in Osaka.
Whether it's someone mixing burnables and recyclables or noise from a neighbor's domestic spat, there's always something occupying the residents of a housing project in the suburbs of Osaka. However Hinako (Naomi Fujiyama) and Seiji (Ittoku Kishibe) couldn't care less. Having moved in just six months ago after the closure of their herbal medicine shop, the old couple is reluctantly putting their life back together. But when Seiji disappears, the apartment rumor mill churns: divorce, murder, dismemberment? As the story spins out of control, and a mysterious man with a parasol puts in a tall order of natural remedies, the truth turns out to be even more fantastic than gossip. Ranging from incisive comedy of errors to absurdist adventure to moving late life romance, "The Projects" is one of the biggest surprises of the year.
Acting
Fujiyama and Kishibe's wordless marital telepathy.
Writing
Gossip as narrative engine—brilliantly unreliable.
Direction
Sakamoto pivots from farce to tenderness mid-sentence.
Director
Junji Sakamoto
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Osaka's danchi (public housing) culture traditionally carries stigma; Sakamoto reclaims it as fertile ground for surrealist community.
Fujiyama, primarily a comedian, improvised entire reaction shots—Sakamoto kept them even when they broke continuity.
JP
