HARMONIUM

The Japanese director revisits family melodrama in this third feature. Toshio lives quietly in the suburbs with his wife and little girl. Yasaka, an old friend who’s just been released from prison, shows up at the man’s house and begs for work. As well as offering Yasaka a place to stay, Toshio welcomes his old friend into his small workshop, unaware that the ex-con is nursing an old, deep grudge. Kôji Fukada’s surprising and touching melodrama astonishes not only with its unpredictable, circuitous plot, but also with its powerful realism.