The Rebirth (2007)

A young woman called Nokiro is being interrogated. Her teenage daughter has killed one of her classmates. A man, Junichi, played by the filmmaker himself, is also interrogated, as it was his daughter who was killed. A year later, in a small industrial town in the Hokkaido region, Junichi is now shuttling between his lodgings at an inn and his job at a foundry. Every day he sees Noriko who works as a cook at the inn. They never speak or exchange looks but recognise one another. Each repeats the same daily routine. He enjoys bathing in very hot water; she is very good at making omelettes. Each lives in a very small space, turned inwards, blank-eyed, isolated in their own world. The camera stays close, feels their pain, their thinness and the contraction of their bodies. Junichi and Noriko have given up. Prostrate with grief, they no longer feel anything. Outside, the air is icy cold, the light dazzling. Companions in adversity, they share the same painful past, which cannot be erased. Suddenly he decides to buy her a present. Little details in their lives change and a tension develops between them. Their existence becomes stronger to each other. They who had given up on life find themselves redeemed by it. Gradually they emerge from the vacuum and from their grief, to embark on a phase of questioning. They change their habits and regain a taste for life. The two characters are overwhelmed by a love that transforms them despite themselves.