Nagai is widely regarded as a successful Information Age businessman, but in reality he is cornered. His company has gone public and he’s at the beck and call of demanding shareholders. The goal he has longed for now seems like a desert before him. To make matters worse, Nagai’s wife and daughter have left him. He carries around a camcorder to conveniently keep their memory alive. He’d like to find them, but doesn’t know where to begin.
Akira chooses to drink away life’s complexities. She has lost faith in her husband and all he represents. She decides to return to the peaceful comforts of her countryside childhood with her daughter Kaai. Her precocious voice keeps Akira alert on a tightrope of memory, delusion and alcohol. Little do Nagai and Akira know, but their precarious relationship will soon be transformed by a complete stranger…
Keechie has been hardened by life on the streets. He will do anything for money. As he searches in vain for the comfort of others, his enigmatic compassion can be unpredictably dangerous. –Cannes Film Festival
Shinji Aoyama (青山 真治, born July 13, 1964, in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan) is a Japanese film director and novelist. He graduated from Rikkyo University. He won two awards at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival for his film Eureka.
Shinji Aoyama was born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan, where he attended Kitakyushu Midorigaoka public junior/senior high school. He graduated in 1989 from Rikkyo University, where he majored in film studies in the department of British and American Studies. While he was a student, he was deeply influenced by the theorist and film critic Shigehiko Hasumi, from whom he took classes.
After graduating, Aoyama worked as an assistant director to Swiss independent film director Daniel Schmid, Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and others. In 1995 he made his directorial debut with the V-cinema production Kyokasho ni nai! (Very Private Lesson), based on the manga publication of the same name.
In 1996 Aoyama made… read more
