Forty-year-old Ryota, with his wife and stepson, visits his elderly parents to commemorate his older brother, who died saving a boy from drowning. Koreeda’s subtle, moving account of the tensions within a family is his most Ozu-like film, a study of the different assumptions and value systems of different generations. This was the director’s first film to feature veteran actress Kirin Kiki, who would become his regular collaborator.
