The Crossing (Boku no ojisan)

Following up on his internationally acclaimed ‘Village of Dreams’, Yoichi Higashi directs this beautifully-shot, contemplative drama about a budding friendship between a young man and his laconic teenaged nephew. The film opens with Takuya, a blank-faced 14-year old, strolling in a rural post office with a large knife. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Takuya's father Koji is struck with a cascade of bad news – Takuya's arrest, his own father's death, and the bad news that his itinerate girlfriend Rin has suddenly appeared on his doorstep after a three-month absence. Assuming that Takuya was acting out after his grandfather's death, the police release him on probation. When Koji arrives in his hometown for the funeral, the two soon bond. (Jonathan Crow)