Aichi Triennale 2019

Tetsuro (Kobayashi Kaoru), a widower who has come down to the river to fish, finds a young man (Yagira Yuya) collapsed by the waterside. Tetsuro cares for the young man, who says his name is Shinichi and has nowhere to call home, and gradually they develop a quasi-familial relationship. Tetsuro tries to find a place for Shinichi at the small woodshop where he works, but as Shinichi's past becomes clearer, all sorts of things begin to unravel. Set in a desolate provincial city, this film illuminates both the light and dark sides of bonds such as familial and teacher-apprentice relationships, focusing on the social and generational divisions that are fragmenting Japan today. Hirose's fresh and compelling direction shows the human ego lurking within the seemingly selfless act of reaching out a helping hand to others, and the weakness and guile of those who rely on this help, in all their complexity.