5 January 2015

The Light Shines Only There (Japan, 2014)

In a Japanese port town, Tatsuo, a traumatized man, spends his days drifting aimlessly and his nights drinking himself to oblivion. Whiling his hours away at a pachinko parlor, he meets Takuji, a young man on parole who impulsively invites him to a shabby house on the outskirts of town. There, Tatsuo glimpses Takuji's bedridden father and callous mother, and meets his world-weary older sister Chinatsu. While immediately drawn to each other, romance is an unaffordable luxury for the emotionally closed-off Tatsuo and the disillusioned Chinatsu, who sells herself to provide for her family and keep her brother out of jail. 

The Light Shines Only There is Japan's official submission for the Oscars, and it's a well-acted and grim youth drama. The cinematography is also fantastic. 

Genre: Drama

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