From the director of Au Revoir L’Ete and Hospitalité, Fukada’s Harmonium is an off-kilter take on that most venerable of Japanese genres — the family drama, which screened to great acclaim at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Un Certain Regard Jury prize.
In this slow-burn Japanese thriller Toshio invites an old acquaintance, Yasaka (just released from prison) to come and live with his family. Toshio lives above the small workshop that he owns with his wife, Akie, and their daughter, Hotaru. It is not clear why Toshio offers Yasaka a job; it doesn’t seem to be out of friendship or goodwill. Akie and Hotaru are wary of the new lodger, but with his persistent charm and goodwill, Yasaka befriends Toshio’s wife Akié and as Yasaka starts teaching their daughter Hotaru to play the harmonium, the family’s fragile domestic bliss is forever altered. Director Kôji Fukada is a master of incremental development, drawing the audience into the unfolding outcome.
Harmonium premiered in the UK as part of the first London East Asia Film Festival (LEAFF) in October 2016, followed by screenings as part of the Cambridge Film Festival, Bath Film Festival and Leeds International Film Festival.
Harmonium will be released in selected cinemas nationwide (UK & Ireland) and on Digital HD from 5 May 2017. Full list of cinemas (which will regularly be updated) screening Harmonium may be found here https://po.st/I15yvL
