Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
From the outside, the Ishikawa family have it all. The father is an architect, the mother a proofreader. They have two children, the younger of whom is studying hard to get into a fancy school. Only son Tadashi seems to have a problem, not enjoying the times when his father welcomes prospective clients into the house to view the perfect home. But this domestic utopia is ruined when Tadashi goes missing after a teenager is found murdered.
With Britain struggling to contain an epidemic of knife crime of its own, Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s film is a timely one, carefully showing how even the strongest familial ties can be broken in the face of hard truths. Tadashi is missing for only two reasons; one that he has been murdered too and, the other, that he is the perpetrator, on the run.
Daughter Miyabi hopes that her brother is innocent of any crime. If he is the murderer, the stain of shame will extend over the whole family, meaning that the family may have to move cities, change jobs, and Miyabi would never be able to attend the elite school for which she has worked so hard. She is already being bullied at school and her father is losing clients. But by wishing him innocent, Miyabi also wishes her brother dead.
The mother, assuredly played by Yuriko Ishida, stands on the other side of the dilemma. She would rather her son be a murderer than a victim. She hopes that he is alive at any cost and will stand by him at any future trial. However, her husband Kazuto (a stern Shinichi Tsutsumi) sees his wife’s choice as almost defeatist resignation; he would rather his son be good, albeit dead.
It’s a predicament worthy of a stage play, but, on the screen, the story is drawn out and it can’t fill the 110-minute running time. Director Tsutsumi widens the family drama to take in the bloodthirsty media that camps outside the Ishikawa home, but these scenes of intrusive tone-deaf journalists are overfamiliar and only distract from the crux of the plot.
As all loose threads are tied up in a conclusion that is way too long, Hope loses its appeal. And in the same way that the journalist, who the mother agrees to talk to, is disappointed with the outcome, the film’s audience may feel that they have been shortchanged too.
The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025 takes place in cinemas around the UK from 7 February – 31 March 2025.
The Reviews Hub Score
Family drama
