After the Storm

Japanese auteur director Hirokazu Koreeda uses an impending typhoon to metaphorically capture the faltering fatherhood of Ryota, played by Hiroshi Abe, a six-foot writer years past his award-winning first novel who seeks to reassess lost opportunities under the ever watchful eye of his aging mother and disgusted sibling, as his ex-wife moves on, only seeing him for seldom forthcoming child support payments. Following the death of his father, living hand-to-mouth while trying to reconnect with his own son, Ryota is described by family as “taking too long to bloom” working as a private detective sneaking into homes and eavesdropping on other people’s bad weather, while he claims to do research for his next book.  As the typhoon hits, there’s a break in the clouds beyond his dad’s ghost and lottery obsession, where he just might clear a path so his dreams may materialize before his estranged family moves beyond his reach.

[NR]