SLICE OF LIFE

And Your Bird Can Sing

きみの鳥はうたえる

Directed by: Sho Miyake

Year: 2018

Length: 106 minutes

Classification rating: Unclassified 15+ (under 15s must be accompanied by an adult)

Screens in: Coffs Harbour, Townsville, Newcastle, Adelaide, Hobart

Clinging to the end of summer in Hakodate

 

With a contagious sense of abandon, three young adults’ lives become intimately entangled over the course of a long summer in Hakodate, Hokkaido. Enigmatic Sachiko (Shizuka Ishibashi) forms an ambiguous “no-drama” relationship with her slacker bookstore colleague (the film’s narrator, played by Tasuku Emoto) and meets his unemployed roommate, Shizuo (Shota Sometani).

While wasting away evenings together drinking, burning through their little cash, playing billiards and clubbing ‘til sunrise, a muted magnetism between Sachiko and Shizuo grows. Committing only to living in the moment, the trio drift around Hakodate—knowing, but never mentioning, that summer will eventually end.

Atmospheric and authentic, 31-year-old director Sho Miyake’s second feature film delivers superb performances by Tasuku Emoto (JFF 2018’s Dynamite Graffiti), Shota Sometani (Himizu; Parasyte) and Shizuka Ishibashi (JFF 2017’s Tokyo Night Sky is Always the Densest Shade of Blue).

Screened as part of JFF 2019
Screening as part of JFF 2021 Satellite program