Kujira no machi

Machi, Tomohiko and Hotaru attend the same high school. Machi misses her older brother, who disappeared six years earlier. The trio takes up his trail, which leads them first to Tokyo and then across the sea.Together, these two girls and a boy comprise a fragile love triangle. It is a game of attraction and boundary setting, of closeness and distance. The three of them are atan age marked by profound insecurity and a constant desire to search, as well as by curiosity and the spirit of discovery. These changing states and moods dictate the rhythm of Keiko Tsuruoka’s directorial debut. She observes the trio again and again as they drift through their summer holidays – in the swimming pool, going for a walk, hanging around doing nothing. If life doesn’t have a dramatic structure yet, then the film doesn’t need one either. Moments are all that count, and each one has its own special significance: Such as when Machi receives a crate of yellow peaches from a friend of her brother, which makes her feel the sadness of her loss all the more clearly. The journey of these three young people is filled with such moments, which they experience together and which help them understand one other.

details

  • Runtime

    70 min
  • Country

    Japan
  • Year of Presentation

    2013
  • Year of Production

    2012
  • Director

    Keiko Tsuruoka
  • Cast

    Momoko Tobita, Sui Katano, Sakiko Yamaguchi, Kentaro Sato, Masaru Nakashima
  • Production Company

    Tsuruoka, Keiko
  • Berlinale Section

    Forum
  • Berlinale Category

Biography Keiko Tsuruoka

Born on 9 October 1988, in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. She is currently studying film and new media at Tokyo university of the Arts. Following the short film TSUTOMETE NO KAERIMICHI (2009), KUJIRA NO MACHI is her feature debut.

Filmography Keiko Tsuruoka

2013 My First Love | 2014 A Light in the Distance | 2015 Suguru hi no yamaneko | 2016 Utsuroi no hyôhonbako | 2019 Makuko | 2020 Under Our Masks