Dear Etranger

Makoto has a successful career, is 40, and remarried. What had driven a wedge between him and his first wife now seems to do the same between him and his second wife. Only now the roles are reversed: back then it was he who wanted a second child, but now that his second wife is pregnant he openly doubts whether that is such a good idea. He has other worries: a stepdaughter who does not like him, the presence of her violent father, problems at work, and an ex-wife who has to take care of not only their daughter, but also her terminally ill second husband.

That this raw and powerfully portrayed family drama gives us a unique view of a Japanese newly formed family is in fact secondary: what this masterful film is really about is the endearing beauty of our fallibility. You can ask director Yukiko Mishima on the evening itself why this long-promised film adaptation of the eponymous novel by Kiyoshi Shigematsu took 20 years to come.

AWARD:
Mainichi Film Competition 2017 – Best Supporting Actress (Rena Tanaka)

Special guest: director Yukiko Mishima!

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