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A tale of two islands and growing up as a stranger in a strange land, told with an artistry that recalls Hou Hsiao-Hsien at his best. Based on Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s short story of the same title (1922), Kawaguchi’s film moves the original early 20th-century Izu Peninsula to present-day Taiwan, where the strength of family ties is singularly put to the test. Yumiko (Machiko Ono), who married against her parents' wishes, has struggled on in stubborn determination since her husband’s death, moving her family from their Tokyo home to the verdant, rural Taiwan village of her in-laws. Her son Atsushi, strongly conscious that in ethnocentric Japan he is "different," is in a state of rebellion against both the society in which he has grown up and his mother. In their new home the family rediscovers the bonds that unite it.
Status
Released
Original Language
JA
Meng-Jian (uncle)
In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. But first she must make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei finds a wife.