Kiyokazu and Satoko are a wealthy couple that has been unsuccessfully attempting to have a child. After a failed treatment for aspermia, they go to a non-profit organization for adoption and are paired with Hikari, a 14-year old girl whose pregnancy came out of pure adolescent love. Her narrow-minded family forces her to give the kid away, who is then raised by the couple, until Hikari unexpectedly reappears in their house six years later demanding her son back.
With a narrative constructed through long flashbacks and nostalgic shots of nature blossoming, the film is structured in two parts – one focused on Kiyokazu's struggle to get pregnant, and the other on Hikari's transformation from an innocent child to a hardened young woman. Adapted from a novel by Mizuki Tsujimura, the film reveals the two sides of the difficult experience of abandonment and adoption, resulting in a deeply warm and emotional family drama. Director Naomi Kawakase has developed a visual style that appears light and feminine, while exploring in a thorough and serious way what it means to be a "real" mother.
Naomi Kawase (b. 1969) is considered one of Japan's leading female filmmakers. In 1997, at 27, she became the youngest ever to win the Camera d´Or in Cannes, for her debut film, Suzaku. She has since been nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or five times, for films such as The Mourning Forest and Still the Water. The former won the Grand Prix in Cannes in 2007.
There will be an introduction before the screening by Maud Ceuterick, professor in Film Studies at the University of Bergen.
Filminfo
Spilletid: 2t 20min
Produsert: Japan/Frankrike, 2020
Originaltittel: Asa ga kuru
Regi: Naomi Kawase
Tale: Japansk
Undertekst: Norsk
Aldersgrense: 12 år
Visningsformat: DCP
