After the Storm (Umi yori mo mada fukaku)

With delicate precision and wry humor, writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Like Father, Like Son, MVFF 2013) wields gentle comedy like a bemused surgeon to dissect one family’s tiny disappointments and postponed dreams. Fifteen years have passed since his promising first novel, but now sad-sack Ryota is divorced, struggling with a gambling problem, and stuck in a dubious job as a private detective. He can’t even make child-support payments for his young son. But Ryota's wily mother—played with mischievous wit by veteran Kiki Kirin in a film-stealing performance—may be quietly plotting to get him to reconcile with his ex-wife and child by inviting them all to shelter in her apartment during a typhoon. Hovering over each of the characters is a question the young boy puts to his dad: “Are you the person you wanted to be?” With warmth and compassion, After the Storm deftly takes the measure of one family’s cumulative heartbreaks and joys.