Overview

A tale of two islands and growing up as a stranger in a strange land, told with an artistry that recalls Hou Hsiao-Hsien at his best. Based on Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s short story of the same title (1922), Kawaguchi’s film moves the original early 20th-century Izu Peninsula to present-day Taiwan, where the strength of family ties is singularly put to the test. Yumiko (Machiko Ono), who married against her parents' wishes, has struggled on in stubborn determination since her husband’s death, moving her family from their Tokyo home to the verdant, rural Taiwan village of her in-laws. Her son Atsushi, strongly conscious that in ethnocentric Japan he is "different," is in a state of rebellion against both the society in which he has grown up and his mother. In their new home the family rediscovers the bonds that unite it.

Top Cast

Machiko Ono

Yumiko Yano

K

Kento Harada

Atsushi Yano

K

Kyōichi Ōmae

Kai Yano

L

Liu Hong

Grandpa

Chang Han

Meng-Jian (uncle)

Mei Fang

Grand mother

One-Fang

Hua-Xin (aunt)

B

Bryant Chang

Zheng-Zhe (birdman)