Based on renowned Japanese writer Yasushi Inoue’s autobiographical novel, this moving film is directed by Harada Masato, an acclaimed director with a style peculiar to himself and a diverse career ranging from actor to director to film critic. The film stars some of Japan’s finest actors, including Yakusho Koji, Kiki Kirin and Miyazaki Aoi, and took 10 years to complete. Writer Kosaku Igami is successful, wealthy and famous; a strict but loving father and husband. Following the death of his own father, Kosaku’s mother begins to suffer from dementia. For years, he has resented the fact that his mother sent him to live with his grandfather’s mistress when he was a child. On discovering that she still keeps a poem he wrote when he was young, the reason for sending him away becomes clear too, and his long-standing emotional wounds begin to heal. As she loses her memories, Kosaku recalls his childhood, slowly beginning to understand how much she truly loves him. This film is about a mother’s unconditional love for her son, as well as the value of memories. The young Kosaku in the prologue’s separation sequence takes on a completely new meaning when his mother’s real love is revealed in the latter half of the film. Harada cleverly immerses the audience in his exploration of the depth of a mother’s love: not obvious on the surface but appearing slowly, like waves and undercurrents. (KIM Ji-seok)