Moving
Restored Japanese family drama about a twelve-year-old girl who must find her way to adulthood when her parents divorce. Winner of the Venice Classics Award for best restored film.
When her parents divorce, twelve-year-old Renko is left alone with her mother Nazuna in Kyoto. While Nazuna makes new rules for their life together, Renko makes her own plans.
MOVING is a gripping family drama and an unconventional coming-of-age tale; Renko turns out to be a highly idiosyncratic teenage girl who unflinchingly chooses her own path. Sômai films in long takes, in which the actors are given plenty of room to shine. The narrative navigates between seriousness and humour, with magical-realist undertones, against the backdrop of a traditional fireworks festival.
Director Shinji Sômai (1948 - 2001) came to prominence in the 1980s, when the Japanese studio system collapsed and independent directors were given space. He directed thirteen feature films, mainly within the ‘seishun eiga’ (youth film) genre. Apart from the long takes, the use of the elements is also an important stylistic characteristic of Sômai's films; typhoons and downpours depict the emotional turbulence of growing children in a chaotic environment. Celebrated film auteurs such as Hirokazu Kore-eda (SHOPLIFTERS) and Ryusuke Hamaguchi (DRIVE MY CAR) consider Sômai an inspirational example; yet Sômai's films are virtually unknown outside Japan. With the release of the 4K-restoration of MOVING, this modern classic – ‘A masterpiece’, according to Le Monde – can be seen in the Netherlands for the first time.