Films at the Embassy of Japan

FULLY BOOKED

Our Little Sister  海街diary

Thursday 10 October 2019
Open 18:00 | Film starts at 18:30 | No admittance after 19:00
Free admission. Prior registration essential.

Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda / 2015 / 126 min
(Japanese language with English subtitles)

Three sisters, Sachi, Yoshino and Chika, living in the city of Kamakura, hear of the death of their father, who disappeared from their lives fifteen years ago. At the funeral they meet a half-sister, Suzu, for the first time. Having learned that it was Suzu who took care of their father to the last and that she has already lost her own mother through illness, they decide to welcome Suzu into their home in Kamakura. The four sisters now start living together. Suzu seems gradually to find her feet in her new life. However, she secretly feels stigmatised by the fact that her mother was the cause of the family breakup suffered by her older sisters. One day, an aunt on her mother’s side makes a sudden visit to Suzu.

Our Little Sister, originally a popular comic series, was adapted into film in 2015 by the prominent Japanese film director, Hirokazu Kore-eda. It has won many awards in Japan and abroad, including the audience award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the prize for the best picture/director/screenplay at the Japan Academy Awards and that for the best picture/director at the Yokohama Film Festival. The film provides a vivid portrait of family life, set against the beautiful streetscape of Kamakura.