<Cold Bloom> explores the consequences of 3.11. After the disaster, Shiori and Kenji, a couple working at a small factory recovering from the tragedy, are looking forward to having a baby. But Kenji dies in an accident caused by his colleague Takumi, and his death results in serious business slump, leaving other employees feeling hopeless. Shiori blames Takumi at first, but when Takumi keeps asking for her forgiveness, she relents, and eventually falls in love with him. director Funahashi Atsushi projects the Japanese feeling of defeat and desperation on to a familiar romance between perpetrator and victim. Throughout the film, we witness the scale of misfortune that strikes ordinary people that believed that they would be rewarded for their hard work, as well as a national guilty conscience born of the dichotomy between perpetrator and victim. Like the sea, the characters’ emotional waves are shaped by delicate psychological description. When the cherry blossoms come into bloom after a long winter, the life of Shiori, haunted by Kenji, finally comes in full bloom as well when she forgives Takumi. (CHANG Byungwon)