For the first time in many years, Gou-ichi TAKATA (Ken TAKAKURA) takes the bullet train to Tokyo from the quiet fisherman’s village where he lives on the northwest coast of Japan. His daughter-in-law, Rie (Shinobu TERAJIMA) telephones to tell him that his son, Ken-ichi (Kiichi NAKAI) is seriously ill, and asking for his father. But when he arrives in the city, Takata finds that Rie was not entirely truthful: Ken-ichi has been hospitalized, but after years of painful estrangement, he still refuses to see Takata. Crushed, the old man quietly slips out of the hospital, but not before Rie gives him a videotape to watch. Rie hopes what Takata sees on the tape will help him get to know his son again.
|
