Soft Leaves
Intimate coming-of-age film about family ties and cultural differences. After her father has an accident, a Japanese-Belgian girl is unexpectedly reunited with her Japanese mother.
Yuna’s parents separated when she was young. Her mother returned to Japan to re-marry and start a new family, leaving her in Belgium with her father. Years later, a sudden accident leaves Yuna’s father in a coma, prompting her mother’s return to Belgium, this time with a half-sister Yuna barely knows. It’s more than Yuna can handle at first, but as her father shows signs of recovery, she is forced to confront her own feelings and navigate the complex ties of her fractured family.
Miwako Van Weyenberg’s feature debut is a restrained and richly textured exploration of family bonds. Soft Leaves examines the emotional undercurrents that bind – or estrange – its characters, as well as the cultural and emotional gap between Yuna’s Belgian upbringing and the life her estranged mother and half-sibling bring with them.