After the Storm | Review - Bittersweet gem from Hirokazu Kore-eda

Fifteen years ago, Ryota was a prize-winning novelist. Now, his handsome charm going to seed, he’s a low-rent private detective, divorced father and gambling addict. Trying to get his life back on track, he makes clumsy efforts to reconcile with his ex-wife and neglected son.

After the Storm is another sensitively observed, bittersweet gem from Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, maker of the superb Ozu-like family dramas Still Walking, Our Little Sister and Like Father, Like Son, and features a number of those film’ stars, including leading man Hiroshi Abe.

Certificate PG. Runtime 117 mins. Director Hirokazu Kore-eda

After the Storm (Umi yori mo mada fukaku) available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Arrow Academy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ccqfyyVfg

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A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.