After the Storm

Director Hirokazu Koreeda may take few stylistic chances, but his considered studies of the modern Japanese family continue a proud tradition founded by master film-makers Yasujiro Ozu and Mikio Naruse. Filled with mournful humour, this saga centres on Hiroshi Abe as a one-time literary sensation whose writer's block and gambling addiction have reduced him to extorting money as a private eye in a Tokyo suburb. His mother and ex-wife have all but given up on him, but his son is prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt, as an approaching typhoon confines the family to a tiny flat. Having Abe walk with a stoop to reinforce his discomfort in a world of diminishing options, Koreeda typically makes telling use of space and place. But it's the beautifully judged performances that impart piquancy to this bittersweet rumination on memory, paternity, expectation and the different ways in which men and women approach the past, the present and the future.