All Around Us

On Friday 5 March, the festival will slow down a bit and try to please the somewhat more poetic, melancholic cinephile with “All Around Us” (HASHIGUCHI Ryosuke, 2008).

A human sketch of Japanese society and despite the themes not a heavy melodrama.

All Around Us follows a married couple, Shoko and Kanao, through the years. Where their relationship is on shaky ground in the early years, a great loss brings them closer together through a path of grief, depression and acceptance. In between the marital troubles, we see the most sensational trials in Japan through the eyes of court sketcher Kanao and how Shoko rediscovers her own artistry.

HASHIGUCHI has delivered a very human work about the dependency of two connected people and thus creates a very beautiful tangible reality.

All images: © 2008 “All Around Us”