JAPAN CUTS 2011 screening: "Haru's Journey"

If Ozu had directed the famed foreign language Academy Award® winner Departures, or remade his own Tokyo Story in our (troubled) times, it might very well have looked like Haru’s Journey. European film festivals’ favored director Masahiro Kobayashi (Man Walking on Snow, Bashing, The Rebirth, Where Are You?) follows the uneasy journey of an elderly fisherman Tadao (Tatsuya Nakadai) and his granddaughter Haru (Eri Tokunaas) as they hit the hard roads of northern Japan, providing uniquely penetrating insight into Japanese culture through universal themes of acceptance, resilience and familial commitment. A rare road movie gem.