Sharasojyu (2003)

Posted By: MirrorsMaker

Shara (2003)
DVDRip | AVI | 576 x 304 | XviD @ 847 Kbps | 99 min | 700 Mb
Audio: Japanese MP3 @ 128 Kbps | Subs: English (srt)
Genre: Drama

The Aso, a family of four, live in the old town of Nara. On the day of the Jizo Festival in the dizzying heat of midsummer, Kei, one of the Aso’s twin boys suddenly disappears, as if he had been spirited away. For the family left behind, the flow of time stopped on that day. They all carry emotions that have no release. Each of them is searching for a way out.

Five years later. Seventeen-year old Shun, the remaining twin, is a high svhool student, a member of the art club. He is working on a life-sized drawing of his brother, who he has been unable to forget. He and his childhood friend, Yu, share a tentative atttraction, but they are awkward around each other. Shun and Yu and their families all carry emotions that have no release. Each of them is searching for a way out. Then, one day, Yu finds out the secret of her birth. Shun learns what became of his brother. With their losses concealed deep in their hearts, Shun and Yu are about to make a move forward with their lives.

IMDB

Ten years ago, the brother of the then seven year old Shun disappeared without a trace. Today, every member of the family, Shun, his father and mother, lives with the trauma and deals with the loss in their own way.

Shara is a movie with an intimate knowledge of grief: it understands how it never really goes away but stays with you like background noise, sometimes inaudible, sometimes shattering.

It's a slow film and director Kawase takes time to let her camera linger on these characters going through their daily routines, but the viewer's patience is rewarded with a festival scene which is beautiful, sublime and extremely moving.
IMDB Reviewer