JFF26 Bring Him Down to a Portable Size

Riko (Ko SHIBASAKI) is living a comfortable life as a writer, when a call from the police brings news of her estranged brother’s death. Childish, selfish and impossible to understand, he was someone Riko had long struggled to forgive. Now, full of resentment, she must travel to Tohoku to deal with the remnants of his life. Just as Riko expected, her brother’s apartment is a chaotic mess filled with unfinished business and reminders of the man who frustrated her for years. But as she clears it out alongside his ex-wife Kanako (Hikari MITSUSHIMA), teenage daughter Marina (Himeno AOYAMA) and young son Ryōichi (Yōta MIMOTO), Riko begins to uncover a different story. Beneath her brother’s flaws was a man facing a silent battle, struggling to ask for help and expressing love for his children in his own, imperfect language. Adapted from writer Riko MURAI’s acclaimed non-fiction essay, director Ryōta NAKANO’s (Her Love Boils Bathwater) work is a funny, tender and complex portrait of family, forgiveness and the complicated ways we remember those we lose.