This old man Yamada...
Monday
all he talks about is sex.
Sounds awful.
Awful. He seems so happy.
I try to listen cheerfully. But three days!
Three days of that stuff. Give me a break!
But he chose a vacation with his wife?
Yeah. Apparently that's what he wanted.
He reconsidered at the last minute. Not a bad story.
He sure took his time choosing.
It's a lot of hard work.
- 'Morning! - Good morning!
Kawashima, here you go.
It's cold! Should've boiled some water.
- Good morning, everyone. - Good morning!
Last week we managed to send all 18 through,
all because of your diligence.
This week we have a heavier load.
Twenty-two in all.
Eight for you, kawashima.
Sugie, seven.
Mochizuki, seven.
That's it from me.
Well, we have another week before us.
My name is Takahashi.
Please have a seat in the lobby.
My name is kori.
Yone kori, is that right?
Please have a seat in the lobby.
My name is kimiko tatara.
My monthly military pay was 95 yen...
About the time of the two-two-six incident,
in July, 1937, when the roko bridge incident...
Sorry to have kept you waiting. We're ready to begin now.
Card ♪1... kimiko tatara.
Please go to conference room a.
Card ♪2... yone kori.
Please go to conference room b.
Card ♪3...
Mochizuki shiori
Yes. Please come in.
Good morning. You can hang your coat there.
You're kimiko tatara, right?
First of all, your birthdate.
April 3, 1920.
Which means you're...
Seventy-eight years old.
I think you already understand the situation,
but I need to inform you officially.
Kimiko tatara...
You died yesterday.
- I'm sorry for your loss. - I'm very sorry.
You'll be staying with us for one week.
Everyone gets a private room. Just relax and enjoy yourself.
But while you're here,
there is one thing you must do.
From the entire 85 years of your life...
We need you to select one memory.
One memory that was most meaningful or precious to you.
There is a time limit.
You have three days to decide.
When you've chosen your memory,
our staff will do their best to recreate it on film.
On Saturday we'll screen the films for you.
As soon as you've relived your memory,
you will move on,
taking only that memory with you.
Yamamoto-San...
Thinking back over the 50 years of your life -
I really don't want to think about all the things I've done.
I have only bad memories.
And even if I had lived a lot longer...
I doubt things would have improved much.
- Only one? - Only one.
- Can I move my chair? - Sure, sure, of course. Relax.
Go ahead...
Whatever's easiest for you to talk.
The most moving experience of my 29 years...
Whatever else they tell you,
for a man, it's when you're doing it.
That's the best!
Ask anyone. You'll see.
When you've been treated so badly,
you swear you'll never be with another man again.
I swore I wouldn't.
But then someone's kind to you. You know how women are.
But aren't men the same? What do you think?
Well...
You mean, I mean...
Something that was fun or made me happy?
I see. Well...
Of course I had many.
My own life didn't work out
exactly as I wanted it to...
But I was energetic
and lived a full life in my own way.
So everyone ends up here?
Everyone? - That's right.
You mean whether you were good or bad or whatever,
all that stuff about going to hell if you're bad -
not true? Everyone's here?
That's right.
Listen, iseya, in your 21 years -
oh, I heard your explanation and all, but the thing is...
I have no intention of choosing. None at all.
This week's assignment list.
Thanks.
- What are you reading this week? - A mystery called a.
Amazing that you can read a whole book every week.
How is it?
- You can have it when I'm done. - As soon as I finish mine.
- Which is? - The world encyclopedia.
Time I've got plenty of.
I've got a tough one!
A 21-year-old named iseya.
No real job, but somehow oddly confident.
Really not my type.
How about you, mochizuki?
- I've got two. - Two?
Watanabe-San, a 70-year-old man,
and Yamamoto-San, 50.
Two? That's tough.
What are they like?
Just average.
In the end, they're the worst, aren't they?
- Earl grey. - Earl grey?
- Like it? - Not bad.
I'll make you a cup.
Another hard day!
Lower your voice, Nakamura.
- What? - I said lower your voice. 'Night.
Wait a minute. Say, how about a game of chess?
Ask your friend the security guard.
What? Not another fight?
Tuesday
There's nothing dramatic about my life.
It was very ordinary.
But if I had to choose...
I'd say my childhood was the best time of my life.
At about what age?
Let's see.
I'm not sure...
But about the second year of junior high school.
It was the day before summer vacation.
I grew up in a working-class neighborhood...
And rode the tram to school.
I always sat in the very front, by the driver's seat,
where the breeze came in through the open window.
It was a short ride, but the feel of that breeze
flowing past my whole body, that breeze -
the bridge where, by chance, after the war,
she was reunited with her fiance.
We'd promised to marry each other,
but he told me not to count on it, as it was toward the end of the war.
So when you were crossing the bridge,
had you given up all hope of ever seeing him again?
No, I knew he'd come back. I was waiting for him.
Were there lots of other people coming and going on the bridge?
Yes.
But I didn't see any of that.
It was just the two of you?
Yes, I guess that's how it was.
We were so young.
She had this little bell on her bag.
And whenever she walked,
the bell would ring “ding-ding.”
When I was in the clubhouse and I heard that “ding-ding”...
I knew she was coming.
I loved the sound of that bell.
I wonder when it was.
Winter, maybe.
I was in the hall...
Tying my shoelaces, putting on my shoes to go home.
It was night, and so dark.
I wasn't wearing street shoes
but converse trainers, and I was tying the laces.
There was no salt.
Since the battle the night of march 2,
we'd had no salt at all, and we were so weak.
Even our sweat didn't taste at all salty.
When we found coconuts or bananas,
we couldn't climb the trees.
So we cut down the trees with our swords,
wrapped the coconuts in a Japanese flag,
slung them over our shoulders, and ran every which way.
Then I was surrounded by 40 or 50 of them.
They had guns and everything.
I figured I'm going to get shot anyway,
I wanted to smoke a cigarette...
And eat some rice first.
So I said...
“Give me cigarette.”
And I guess they figured I couldn't get up anyway.
One of them pulled a cigarette out of his pocket,
and I thought I might get somewhere with these people.
“I am hungry.
Boiled rice... give me.”
I kept talking like this...
And held onto the shoulder of one of the American soldiers,
to a hut about 200 or 300 yards away.
It was like a guard shack.
Inside they boiled some rice,
laid out banana leaves on the table,
spooned rice from the pot onto the leaves,
and salted the rice.
I was deliriously happy. I ate it by the fistful.
I thought I might really get somewhere with these people.
Then I saw a chicken and thought some chicken would be nice.
We were all hungry
and decided to get some pancakes.
The pancakes at Disneyland are so good,
so we went to eat some.
But I didn't have enough money,
so I was the only one who couldn't eat them.
My friend gave me one of hers, and it was so good.
Afterwards we were all full,
so then we decided to go -
it was kind of far -
to ride splash mountain.
We all decided to ride it together and we all got on...
Here you are. I looked for you.
Careful, it's hot.
Thanks.
Here goes!
Yummy!
When you said...
Was it splash mountain
you had so much fun at?
I've been working here...
For about a year now.
It's been about that long.
And, well, you're the 30th person.
- I am? - Yes, exactly.
I see.
Thirty people all chose Disneyland?
Yeah, lots of kids choose it. Especially teenage girls.
I see.
Let's see. I guess at the time of the great earthquake,
I was nine years old.
I was only a child, but I'll never forget it.
Our house was on the koshu road,
and people were clinging to the ground,
so I thought I should too,
so I joined them.
Eventually the earthquake stopped.
And then we were all told to go into the bamboo grove.
I was just a child, so I played among the bamboo trees.
What did you play with?
We hung a rope between two bamboo trees
and swung on it.
The mothers were cooking rice in the open
and made us rice balls.
Eating those rice balls in the bamboo grove -
I still remember that.
It's amazing how you do forget.
You swear you'll never do this again
once labor starts.
I guess it's different for everyone,
but one friend told me she was thinking about the next child
as soon as her baby was born.
So I have to say...
If you couldn't forget that, if that pain stayed with you forever,
there would be very few brothers and sisters in the world.
The cliff where he tried lo commit suicide...
At age 20.
Just as I was about to jump,
the moonlight glinted off the railroad tracks.
The light was pale blue and ghostly,
I somehow recall.
A pale-blue light like lightning
shone right into my eyes.
Before I knew it...
The train was gone.
Standing there dazed,
the images that came to me were my girlfriend's face
and my mother's face.
Having to choose a single memory -
I've never really looked back at my life that way.
If I had photo albums or diaries at hand,
memories would probably come back to me.
Any children, watanabe-San?
I had none.
Any hobbies?
Nothing special.
Any trips with your wife?
Do I have to choose that sort of thing?
I started at 16,
and it'd be quite a feat to count all the women since.
- All in the quarter? - Yes.
If you waste too much time making up your mind there,
they close up shop at 11:00.
After that, none of them are presentable.
Early in the evening, the beauties would call out...
“Hey, handsome, you look like a regular.
Come on over!”
I'd fall for it. And they'd be so expensive!
But later in the evening,
just before closing at 11:00, they'd start discounting.
1,000 yen down to 500.
That's the deal you're waiting for,
but you can't be lucky every day.
After all, what's a woman without a pretty face?
Maybe five or six months after I was born -
- five or six months? - Yes.
I was born in may, and it was sometime in the fall.
In October or November?
I can't be certain exactly, but about that time.
I hadn't been alive very long.
I think it was Autumn. - Autumn.
And it wasn't morning. It was afternoon.
I can't be certain, but I think it was afternoon.
I was naked, lying on the futon,
when I was bathed in this amazing sunlight.
An Autumn light, not too hot.
What time of day?
Dusk. Yes, about 3:00.
Wasn't there something?
Nishimura-San, any happy memories?
Were you married?
Ever married?
Any children?
How about grandchildren?
Don't you have any flowers here?
Oh, yes, in the springtime they bloom.
They're very pretty.
They must be very pretty.
Nishimura-San...
How old are you now?
It seems nishimura-San already chose her memories
while she was still alive.
I didn't realize it myself at first,
but she's been living in her memories from being nine.
Nine years old...
I wonder how we look,
how the world looks, to someone like her.
You have to wonder
what she thinks when she looks in the mirror.
Next!
- Oh no, this one! - Why?
Even today, he's still insisting,
not that he can't choose, but that he won't.
No desire to choose?
How old is he? - Twenty-one.
After 21 years, there must be something.
Why don't you take him?
Forget it.
I'm no good with his type.
All right, I guess I'll keep at him.
You've got to hang in there.
Ichiro watanabe, 70 years old.
After college...
He worked for a steel company until he retired.
His wife was his only family, and she passed away five years ago.
He wants to choose some evidence of his own life.
Evidence of life?
That sounds good...
But most people don't leave anything like that behind.
A little late to look for it here.
Just in case, I'll order the videotapes.
This is bundo-San.
So this is bundo-San?
Once in a while you run into this, but less than a year old, right?
Who remembers that far?
How far back do most people remember?
Typically, four years old.
Four, huh?
What's your earliest memory?
Me?
I had just started kindergarten.
I rode the bus there.
My transparent bus pass twinkled in the light.
I could go anywhere. I was filled with hope and so happy.
Riding at the front of the bus, pass case swinging.
My first memory is also from kindergarten.
They used to give us all hot tea.
- Tea? - The taste of that aoji tea.
I remember eating my box lunch and drinking the tea.
My tongue remembers. It's the memory of a certain taste.
And you, mochizuki?
I was also
about three or four.
I have this intense memory of snow.
My grandmother's house was in the country,
up north in yamagata.
Thinking back on it now,
playing in the snow there is my first memory.
I loved the snow.
The snow? Was it cold?
It was like being surrounded by silence.
- You remember the sound? - The sound.
Most of us remember from age three or four?
What happened to all the memories before then?
Lots of things happened.
Apparently some people can remember
as far back as being in the womb.
Medical research proves it.
Inside the womb?
If you close your eyes
and immerse yourself in water,
the memory of the sense of security of being inside your mother
can help with anxiety and other conditions.
No, I'm serious.
Bath occupied
Yes, his name is ichiro watanabe.
Just to be sure, can you copy all 71 videotapes?
This week, I need his and Yamamoto-San's tapes.
When will you be able to deliver them?
Tomorrow afternoon?
Yes, that's fine.
Thank you.
Wednesday
good moming, everyone.
It's now Wednesday morning.
Today is the deadline for choosing your memories.
You absolutely must make your choice by sundown.
Changed your mind?
I see.
But why?
I just sort of - maybe it wasn't such a good idea.
I see.
Well, let's spend today thinking it over.
Can I pick a dream?
- A dream? - Yeah.
What kind of dream?
The kind you dream at night.
For instance, there's all kinds.
Some people have scary dreams.
You mean dreams from when you're sleeping?
Yeah, exactly. Like, I mean...
Like in my case, like...
There's this amazingly colorful beach,
and a ship's docked there.
Someone's running super fast, chasing me.
And I'm running as fast as I can,
but you know in dreams everything's pretty spacey.
- Slow motion? - No, not slow motion.
But wouldn't it be amazing if you could recreate that sensation?
Out of the question? Was that dream so important?
Not enough to choose it.
When I caught a cold,
she made me rice porridge with miso and pickled plums mixed in.
She blew on it herself to cool it down, saying...
“Eat it while it's still hot.”
You remember that kind of woman.
You can't make porridge by stirring up rice that's already been cooked.
You'll only end up with rice soup.
You have to make porridge from scratch,
washing the rice and - it's a lot of work.
Where did she make the porridge?
It was up in the north,
maybe aomori.
- Was this at her house? - Yes.
- An apartment? - Yes.
How large?
About four or six tatami mats.
Whenever that happened,
I'd forget about contacting Tokyo.
I'd just want to stay with that woman for about five days.
When I recovered, there was no stopping me.
I had to repay her, right?
Just pretend with your right hand.
Don't strike with your right.
That's right. Now you've got it.
And next...
Oh, all right, let's try it.
Okay! Excellent!
You've got it now!
These videotapes contain a record of your life.
One for each year. Seventy-one in all.
They won't match your memories exactly,
so please just use them for reference.
Watch them as a way of bringing back the past.
I see. Well, I'll try to do my best.
- I'm sorry to be so intrusive. - Oh, no.
I'll stop in again this evening.
Videos, huh?
In aoyama - I don't know if it's still there.
There used to be the youth hall.
And also the Japan youth hall,
and the music hall in hibiya.
I danced in them all.
I remember the music hall in hibiya best.
I remember having the most fun there.
Do you remember the songs you danced to?
“I want a big elephant,” “sparrow dance”...
And also...
“The kintaro dance” and “red shoes.”
Do you remember the dance steps?
Not very clearly, but “red shoes” went...
A little girl in red shoes... That's how it went. Then...
A foreigner took her away...
You link arms with your partner.
Then wave your handkerchief. And away she went...
That's all there was to it,
but thinking back, it certainly was fun.
At the time...
Nagayo motoori, who wrote the song,
was still alive,
and he had three daughters.
His two younger daughters both wore these red dresses.
My brother thought they were so cute.
He looked all over Tokyo to find one for me. I wore it.
Whenever I came home from dancing,
he always wanted to show me off to everyone.
He promised to treat me to “red rice,”
which, thinking about it now, was chicken rice.
In those days there were “cafes.”
There were two or three waitresses.
It was rather dark, but not too dark to see faces, of course.
That's where he would take me.
And he would say, “show me how you danced.”
And I wanted to eat that chicken rice so badly,
I danced for him there.
And then his friends would call to me...
“Come have some ice cream,” so I'd go over to them.
I was absolutely thrilled.
I was still in my dancing clothes...
And I danced for them.
I wanted to eat those dishes.
Funny, isn't it?
Were you close to the brother who bought you the dress?
Very close.
Until the very end.
He already...?
Yes, three years ago.
I nursed him to the end.
I was seeing someone then...
And that day, when I got back to Tokyo,
we went to the imperial hotel together.
It was like -
how should I put it?
It was our own private adult day ceremony.
Do you remember what the weather was like that day?
Yes, it was snowing.
So when you looked out the windows,
it was snowing?
He wasn't the kind of man
who only paid attention to his own needs.
He was always attentive to a woman's feelings.
So when we were making love, I really began to feel,
even though I did it for a living,
that I was the heroine in a film.
He was so kind. That's how I think of him.
I thought, “how nice it would be to be with him.”
But I found out later...
He had a wife.
I struggled with that. I really did.
Do you remember what you talked about with him?
Talked about?
He never said, “I love you.”
At one time...
I wanted to be a pilot, and I was in training.
It only happened once.
I was between the clouds.
What I saw, flying in the clouds,
made a deep impression on me.
What kind of plane were you in?
What's usually called a cessna.
A small four-seater.
Looking out from the cessna,
do you remember the shapes of the clouds?
They were almost pure white.
The shapes were like...
Tufts of cotton candy they sell at fairs,
just floating in the sky.
But they were really...
Not too large or too small,
a size that wasn't frightening.
I remember the clouds seemed very gentle.
We've got fo change...
The way Japan is today.
It's up fo us to build a new tomorrow.
Even if it's only one thing,
I want to leave behind some evidence of my life.
There you go again with that evidence stuff
what evidence?
Join a firm, work there all your life...
And all that's left is to dle.
I don't want that! I just don't!
Are any of these like the plane you flew in?
No, this body is a Piper.
The cessna is a high-winged plane. The wings are above.
Above?
- These wings are below. - Low-winged.
When we refer to a cessna,
we're talking about wings that are high.
It's as though the body is suspended from the wings.
That's how you should think of it.
The placement of the wings makes all the difference in an airplane.
For me to remember from one of these -
the shape doesn't matter. The wings do.
That's just how I feel.
Do you have a hobby?
Movies...
Idiot!
Oh, I love the movies too!
Ingrid bergman, Joan fontaine...
Did you see September affair?
How about Rebecca?
What kinds of films do you like?
What kinds?
American films, French films...
I like samural action and -
bantsuma! My father's a fan.
I've seen many with him.
Say I choose a memory
from when I was eight or ten years old.
Then I'll only remember how I felt back then?
That's correct.
I'll be able to forget everything else?
Really?
You can forget?
Well, then, that really is heaven.
He chose a memory from when he was five
of his secret hideaway filled with junk.
He wanted to choose the darkness.
The darkness... huh.
You could recreate that with sound alone.
Could be interesting.
He must be burdened with a past
that he can't talk about to anyone.
Listen, man.
You can't start identifying with them.
It's just a job. You know, a job.
You won't last if you let it get to you.
Another day.
I wonder how watanabe-San is doing.
I think...
He'll be doing this.
Are we disturbing you?
No. Please come in.
Excuse us.
Newlyweds?
Yes, um, something like that.
I never had the chance to be married.
I'm envious.
This is my wife.
Her name is kyoko.
We had an arranged marriage the year before.
Happy?
Yes, well...
I see.
Well, it was very, very ordinary.
You want to be taken off watanabe-San?
Very unusual. That's not like you.
You've never asked for that before.
Thursday
Until I came here...
I had a certain confidence about my own life...
That in my own way I was happy.
But looking back like this...
I feel like something's missing.
A so-so education...
A so-so job...
A so-so marriage, and a so-so retirement.
Everything's so-so. Just so-so.
But you said yesterday it was a good marriage.
Yes, I believe it was a good marriage.
Maybe too good for me.
It may sound odd...
But it's not as though we were united
by burning passions.
You're not alone in that.
In fact, wasn't that fairly typical, at least for our generation?
Did you just say “our” generation?
Yes.
The truth is I was born in 1923...
And died at the age of 22.
Even though I don't look any older,
had I lived, I would be 75 years old.
I see.
In the war? - Yes.
I was wounded in the Philippines
and died in a hospital in Tokyo.
When?
May 28, 1945.
Oh, this brings back memories!
This, this is it!
Let's see.
The Lily pond by the main entrance was so beautiful.
Are you sure?
It's just that something's a little off.
You said you stayed here on adult day, right?
That's right.
You're 47 years old, right?
In fact, demolition work on this hotel began
on December 1, 1967.
The years don't add up.
You're at least... four years off.
Well, I... you know...
When I met my current husband,
I was about two years past 30.
Oh, so you told him 28.
Well, you know, I wanted to look good.
I wanted to be young for him, so I -
actually, I've also shaved five years off my age.
And not just my age.
I use the name sugie here, but it's not my real name.
My company went under, and I had so many bad debts,
I just had to stay on the run.
Murakami, kashiwagi...
Yamamoto, naito.
I even used a Chinese name, wong.
Really?
Not really.
Now we're even.
The truth is...
The truth is he never showed up.
I kept waiting, but...
My dream about the future...
About that dream...
The reason I can't choose it -
- the future is out. - Yeah, but...
Stick with something that already happened.
But those are just memories.
And ultimately we end up turning memories
into our own images.
Of course, it really happened...
So it feels very real.
But say I construct the future
as though I'm making a film about it.
As I imagine all kinds of situations...
I think what I create would feel a lot more real
than some memory.
That's what I think.
And that's a lot more meaningful than looking back at the past.
So looking back at the past,
living with a single moment from my past,
would be too painful for me.
No good?
I think you'd better reconsider.
Yeah, it's your whole setup here that needs rethinking.
What am I going to do with this one?
I think it looked like this, with the smocking.
I think this is what the dress was like.
You liked western dresses?
Dresses?
I don't remember wearing one before kindergarten.
But for kindergarten...
He bought me a pink dress.
I loved that dress.
It was pink?
It was embroidered here,
with smocking across the chest.
My friend yoshie had the same dress.
I remember jumping for joy over that dress.
Did you ever dance in that dress?
Let's see.
Maybe I did.
I don't remember clearly.
It was really a little girl's dress, that pink...
The sleeves were all puffed up. Short sleeves.
In the springtime
it must be beautiful here.
It's beautiful in the spring.
Do the cherry trees blossom?
They do.
Do you like cherry blossoms?
Me too. I love cherry blossoms.
Look, this is my daughter.
Her name's sakurako, because she was born in April.
She's three in this picture, our last one together.
Don't her ears look just like mine?
I've been here three years now, so she's already six.
Her grandmother's raising her. I can't help but worry.
I only get to see her on the day of the dead.
At least until her adult day ceremony when she's 20.
Fourteen more years.
I've got to fulfill my responsibilities as a father.
That's why I'm here.
She was only three when I died.
I think I was about three.
It was in the summer,
and the white wash was drying in the breeze.
My head was resting on my mother's lap
as she cleaned my ears.
I remember how my mother smelled then
and the way my cheeks felt against her lap.
She was so soft and warm.
It felt so familiar.
Say!
- What is it? - Thank you so much.
It's better than Disneyland, right?
You can remember how your mother's lap felt
and how she smelled.
Only vaguely.
Don't you remember?
I remember, for instance,
my father's back when he was carrying me.
It was so broad and firm.
And the smell of his sweat,
and how his hair tonic stank.
Well, excuse me.
- Where are you going? - Location scouting.
Give me a break, shiori!
You went to scout the bamboo grove, but these are useless!
They were pretty.
Sure they're pretty,
but we can't use them to recreate anything.
Can't you be more serious? We shoot tomorrow!
What were the bamboos like?
- Just average. - Average? Be more specific!
So the bamboo grows from the ground up -
bamboo doesn't grow top to bottom! It's not a root!
I told you it was average.
Absolutely useless!
Do you always have to be so defensive?
How did your parents raise you?
Exactly like your daughter, sakurako.
I'm what happens when you don't know your dad.
Keep her out of this! You jerk!
She sure is demoralizing.
Don't let her get to you.
Not all 18-year-olds are like that.
I'm not cut out for this work, but I do it anyway.
Oh, man.
You can't help but wonder sometimes.
What's the point of all our work?
Recreating memories of the dead.
What are we doing it for?
He says the clouds looked like tufts of the cotton candy
that they sell at fairs, light and airy.
He remembers the wings slicing through the clouds,
and the sky he saw through the cockpit window.
I'd like to emphasize those.
Right now we only have this type of plane.
Looking out the side, all you see is wing, right?
We'll remove the wing. It's removable.
Let's remove the wing, bring it on set, and film it that way.
So from his point of view, the wing will be above him.
Yes, use a fake wing.
We need to recreate
a kind of intense summer heat inside the tram
and also blow in a cool, not cold, breeze
through the window. How about using a fan?
To get the feeling of a breeze on him,
let's use the old one stopped at the park.
That will feel like a breeze.
It's difficult to convey temperature
with visual images.
Instead let's try spraying his forehead
to create a little sweat.
Red is the only color.
If the background was monotone,
that might heighten the effect of the red.
It's the red shoes and the dress that are important in red.
The chicken rice is also important.
It symbolizes her feelings for her brother.
What are you doing?
I was just admiring the beautiful moon.
The beautiful moon!
How terribly romantic!
Just your usual self, I see.
- Say? - What?
Who's kyoko?
Who?
- No use pretending. - I'm not hiding.
Someone from your past?
A lover?
It wasn't like that.
Whatever. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.
It doesn't concern me anyway.
Good night.
Shiori!
You should apologize to kawashima tomorrow.
Oh, it's you.
Got a minute?
Fine, but keep it short. I'm going to bed.
Okay, I understand.
How beautiful the moon is tonight.
The moon is fascinating, isn't it?
Its shape never changes,
yet it looks different depending on the angle of the light.
You came to my room to talk about the moon?
I wonder if she got my point.
Friday
the electrical circuits are overloaded.
Please refrain from using hair dryers.
Good morning.
We're ready for you.
You sit there.
It's just as I remember.
This bed here and...
Yes. It was shaped like a tray, yes.
When did you choose, gramps?
Haven't.
Oh, so you're watanabe-San?
I'm iseya.
It looks like we were the only ones who couldn't choose.
Why couldn't you?
Look who's asking!
Why can't you choose?
For me...
Its not that I can't.
It's that I won't.
I won't choose. You see...
I decided this is the way to take responsibility for my life.
Today's the shoot day, so everyone's trying to look their best.
Combing what little hair they have left,
putting on extra makeup.
Ended up blowing the fuses.
Actually, it's kind of sweet,
everyone working so hard to look good.
I guess that's just how people are.
But it shouldn't be that way.
It should be like -
as you get older, your looks start to fade.
They're trying to compensate
for the confidence they don't have.
They're working so hard to fake it.
Which is why the younger generation, like me,
makes fun of them.
Really?
I said that?
Yes, you did, wiping the sweat with your handkerchief.
You said you like the movies.
I aid not!
Yes, you did!
You did so.
I really did?
Okay.
Once a month, the two of us will go to the movies together.
Yes, yes.
What kind of response is that?
Well, you...
How rude'
here I'm trying fo -
okay, dear. That's what we'll ao.
We certainly have plenty of time.
It's just an idle afternoon in the park.
I'm happy for you.
At chuo park, next to the movie theater in ginza.
It had been a while.
Actually, in the 40 years we were married,
we never went to the movies together.
As it turned out, that was the last time
we went to the movies together.
I see.
I didn't make the three-day deadline,
and I caused you a lot of trouble.
No, no, please don't mention it.
Don't tell the others...
But everyone who works here couldn't choose either.
So it's embarrassing when you apologize to me like this.
You too?
Yes, me too.
I see.
That's why I'm certainly in no position to judge you.
Oh, I see.
You've been here ever since you died?
No, I came here three years ago.
Before that, I did the same work in different facilities.
So that's how it was.
Please tell me:
Was it that you couldn't...
Or that you intentionally didn't?
The reason I ask the question
is that it occurred to me that not choosing
might be one way of taking responsibility.
Responsibility?
Okay. Rehearsal!
Ready... action!
- How about the wing? - We'll hang it from above.
Clouds, please.
Raising it will -
lower it.
How are the clouds?
This is exactly like being “in cloud.”
“In cloud”?
When you're surrounded by clouds.
Even though your field of vision is clear,
there's a patch of clouds that you plunge right through.
So basically, you're flying through a clear sky,
and there's a clump of clouds ahead.
You plunge into them, and it's like the clouds are racing past you.
So they're not coming at you. They're flowing by.
That's right.
So it's summer, in the summertime.
The window's open.
On this side is shinobazu pond and the trees.
This side could be a little brighter, right?
During the day the light's not on inside, so it's dark.
The exposure here will -
- and for sound? - I've prepared a cassette.
Oh, that brings back memories.
- Perfect, just perfect. - Says it's perfect!
Rolling.
So the driver's sitting right here.
Yes. I'd be watching. He didn't mind if I stood here.
I couldn't stand there.
So in fact you're staring at the view outside this window.
This side too, of course.
Actually, this side's better.
A little bit more on this side.
Like this?
Let's try the breeze.
With the hat on.
Should he take the hat off?
It doesn't really -
maybe it's better with it on.
In reality, the hat would fly away.
I guess it might.
So maybe it's better off.
What's best?
Hold it in his hand?
It was hanging from about here.
This feels just like...
When we were playing together then.
Too big?
- They used to be big, right? - Even bigger.
Let's make them even bigger.
You can make one, shiori.
Just watch how grandma does it.
Nowadays young people go hiking,
but not when we were young.
So eating with my parents in a bamboo grove was a real treat!
Weren't there lots of mosquitoes?
It was September, so they were gone.
But when we spent the night there, we slept under mosquito netting.
Mosquito netting?
Yes, we slept under the netting.
That night, the night of the great quake on September 1,
was the night of the Korean “riots.”
People went crazy.
They said the well water was poisoned,
and there was a huge uproar.
I was more scared of that.
As it turned out, the Koreans had gathered to run away,
but people thought they were going to attack.
I see. So false rumors had spread.
Some rumors are false. They were just false rumors.
What are you going to do for the clouds?
Are you going to use cotton?
I'm not sure exactly how it's going to work.
Ready for numbers 5 and 6.
Is this spot...?
Can you stand by the camera and have a look?
We're ready!
Ready!
Action!
It's just like I'm really flying.
The same feeling...
There's this sense of distance.
It's very real and amazing.
It looks really great from here!
Good. He says it's okay.
I'll be your brother.
Oh, I see. Thank you.
I'm a little old to be your younger sister.
She's playing you.
So will you teach her the steps to “the red shoes”?
I don't remember them very well.
Shall we? - Okay, here we go.
A little girl
in red shoes
a foreigner took her away
and you put your hand like this.
And twirl around once,
and then wave your handkerchief.
And you're done.
You wave the handkerchief like this.
Shall we try it?
She's so darling!
A little girl...
How was I -
how was I holding the handkerchief?
I'm not holding it at the start.
A little girl in red shoes
a foreigner took her away, and away she went
what did I do with the handkerchief? Oh, dear.
Oh, well, just hold this. Okay, dear?
And do a /itle girl...
She looks just like the doll from “American-born celluloid.”
A little girl in red shoes
a foreigner took her away
and away she went
My brother will be thrilled.
When I prayed at his altar this morning...
I told him we'd be filming here today.
There really was a time when I looked like that.
Do we need a few more leaves?
The area you're dropping them on now -
and a little more colorful, please.
Over there. Yes, that area.
Saturday
Thank you, everyone. Your week is over.
This is the last time we'll all be together.
You'll move to the screening room now
and watch the memories that we recreated for you.
The moment you relive your memory,
you'll move on to a place
where you can be sure
of spending eternity with that memory.
By the time you read this letter,
you will have disappeared from my memory.
There's not much time, so I'll express my feelings briefly.
You were my wife kyoko's fiance.
When I heard your name and the date of your death,
several images fell info place.
That my wife had once been engaged
fo someone who had died in the war -
she told me all this when we first met.
Even after we were married...
She visited your grave once a year, alone.
The fact that you did not discuss kyoko with me
was a gesture of kindness, for which I am grateful.
I would be lying if I were fo say
that I was not jealous of how kyoko cherished your memory.
But the years we spent together as a couple
overcame that
it's only what I've understood by coming here
that's allowed me to choose a memory with her.
I really wanted you to know
that I was able to affirm the 70 years of my life.
I didn't tell him the truth...
Not because I was being kind.
Nor was it that I didn't want to hurt him.
I was afraid it would be too painful for me to tell him.
The way kyoko revealed herself to him...
The way he accepted her just as she was -
I never let myself get that close to anyone.
How can you just say that!
Maybe you were deeply involved with kyoko
in a way you couldn't even see.
Found it.
“Kyoko watanabe.”
Nakamura-San handled her case.
It's the same park that watanabe-San chose.
But it's dated...
August 3, 1943.
This is it.
She chose this moment.
You're going away, right?
You're going to choose.
I can tell.
You're going to choose a memory with her, right?
Why did I have to help you?
I'm so stupid!
At the time...
I searched desperately...
Inside myself for any memory of happiness.
Now, 50 years later...
I've learned...
I was part of someone else's happiness.
What a wonderful discovery.
You too...
Someday, will find this.
I won't choose.
If I choose...
I'll have to forget all about this place.
So I won't choose.
I'm going to keep you...
Inside me...
Forever.
I can't bear to be forgotten by any more people.
Shiori...
I only came to this understanding...
Through the time I spent here...
Through all the people I met and said good-bye to here.
So I promise...
I'll never forget what happened here.
Sunday
yesterday's set?
I was so happy yesterday.
Sitting alone on the bench was the first time
I could look back happily on the 22 years of my own life.
I see.
I understand.
We'll make a special exception in your case. Congratulations.
Thank you, everyone, for your help.
That mystery novel - I only got partway through it.
Will you read it for me...
After the encyclopedia?
I wonaer how shell ao.
I wonder.
I hope she's up to it.
Excuse me. Bathroom break.
No, not that old trick.
It wasn't on purpose.
I swear!
Monday
after all that talk about women,
old man shioda chose his daughter's wedding,
where she's handing her parents the bouquet.
- How sweet. - What's sweet?
After all that time I spent with him.
All that talk was just a cover for his embarrassment.
When old guys like that get assigned a young woman,
they go on and on about sex.
The trick is never to act embarrassed.
I'll be fine, just fine.
Good morning.
Shiori, it's cleaning time.
Good morning.
Last week we managed to send off 22,
including mochizuki-San,
all because of your diligence.
Unfortunately...
Iseya, who was assigned to kawashima,
will be joining you for certain reasons.
He'll be working as kawashima's assistant
for some time.
Please all help him out.
Okay, let's have a word from iseya.
Iseyal
iseya?
Where'd he go? He's going to be a tough one.
Kawashima...
Excuse me. I'll go look for him.
Iseyal
shiori, shall we start cleaning?
Iseyal
Good morning.
Oki-San... masayoshi oki.
You're number one.
I'm sadako araya.
You spell it a-r-a... Yes, okay. You may go.
Shiori satonaka
please sit down.
Miyahara-San...
From the 35 years of your life,
I'd like you to select your most important memory.
But today is Monday,
so you only have until the day after tomorrow.
Today is Monday,
and Wednesday is the deadline.
The staff here will do their best
to recreate the memory you select.
Erika oda
susumu terajima
Taketoshi naito
Kyoko kagawa
Kei tani
Takashi naito
executive producer yutaka shigenobu planning producer masahiro yasuda
akieda
cinematography yutaka yamazaki masayoshi sukita
lighting yuzuru sato sound design osamu takizawa
art direction hideo gunji toshihiro isomi
music yasuhiro kasamatsu
Stylist koichiro Yamamoto
still photographer masayoshi sukita
Produced by TV man union, inc. And engine film, inc.
Written, edited, and directed by hirokazu kore-eda
subtitles by Linda hoaglund