Toshio runs a blacksmith’s workshop and lives with his wife Akie and little daughter Hotaru, but he is strangely indifferent to his family. His old friend Yashaka visits him after he is released from prison and Toshio lets him stay at his house without telling the family. Yashaka is friendly and polite, unlike Toshio, so he captures Akie and Hotaru’s hearts. As Yashaka gets ever more deeply involved in Toshio’s family life, their peaceful routine is shattered. Director Fukada Koji’s Harmonium calmly explores the desires and guilt hidden beneath peaceful everyday lives and the hell that guilt can inflict. He displays excellent directing skills in conveying the heavy theme through unflinchingly depicting this sometimes lascivious story. Harmonium was shown in the Un Certain Regard section and won the Jury Prize at the 69th Cannes Film Festival. (KIM Byeong-cheol)