Underplayed Gems

The Harbor Lights (2024)

The Harbor Lights poster
Original title
港に灯がともる
Directed by
Mojiri Adachi
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 59m
Rating
8.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A young woman of Korean descent in Japan struggles with depression and a strained relationship with her father after a disaster. As she volunteers in rebuilding a local shopping district, she starts to understand the enduring pain of others and her father's own suffering.

slow-burnmelancholiccontemplativeemotionally restrainedsomberintimategentleatmospheric

What happens

『港に灯がともる』(みなとにひがともる)は、2025年1月17日に全国公開された日本映画。監督・脚本は安達もじり、主演は富田望生。第37回東京国際映画祭Cinema Now部門出品。 心に不調をきたしてカウンセリングを受けている在日コリアンの灯(あかり)。震災後に生まれた灯にとって震災も在日コリアンとしての家族の歴史も現実味のないもので、何かにつけ震災後の苦労を口にする父とはどうしても理解し合えない。ぎくしゃくする家族に灯の居場所はなく、両親の離婚、慣れない仕事のストレスで鬱々とした日々を送る。そんなとき昔ながらの商店街の復興に携わるようになった灯は、震災が人々にもたらした消えない苦しみや哀しみ、住み慣れた地域への思いに気づき、次第に心を開いていく。やがて、会えば口論ばかりだった父の長年の苦しみにも気づくのだった。 (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.