Hirokazu Koreeda is the natural heir to Yasujirō Ozu, so the occasion of a new work from the writer/director – Japan’s foremost humanist filmmaker – is cause for celebration indeed.
His follow-up to 2015’s Our Little Sister is the story of a private detective (played by the great Hiroshi Abe) who struggles to reconnect with his estranged son and ex-wife following the death of his own father.
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With everyone else moving on with their lives, Ryôta clings to the past, seemingly unable to reconcile his former success as a prize-winning author with the gloom and grief that now clouds his life.
It’s a film about empathy, forgiveness and parental bonds, and another sublime low-key drama from a director who never fails to raise the emotional stakes in a subtle and sensitive manner.
Koreeda’s Like Father, Like Son won the Jury prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and we’re expecting big things when his latest feature screens at this year’s festival in the Un Certain Regard strand.
After the Storm is released 2 June.
