A woman survives a bus fire she secretly wanted to die in — then has to figure out why she lived.
On the night of August 19, 1980, a bus was set on fire by the vagrant Hirofumi Maruyama at the Shinjuku West Exit Bus Terminal. In the burning flames, Mitsuko, who was exhausted by her affair, suddenly thought of suicide. As a result, she escaped too late from the bus and suffered a serious injury. From there, she was hospitalized for a long time. As she gradually recovered, the wife of her affair partner, Soroku Sugihara, died of cancer. Soroku proposed to Mitsuko again, and they lived together. Due to Soroku's mounting debt, they decided to flee to Tojinbo. With the desperate persuasion of her acquaintances, Mitsuko regained her desire to "live again."
Acting
Kaori Momoi's exhausted, luminous desperation carries every frame.
Direction
Onchi makes Tojinbo cliffs feel like a character judging her choices.
Director
Hideo Onchi
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Tojinbo cliffs were already infamous as a suicide destination; using them as a 'redemption' location was controversial.
Based on a novel by Tsutomu Mizukami, who specialized in stories of working-class women trapped by men and poverty.
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