Renoir
In 1987 suburban Tokyo, an 11-year-old girl’s irrepressible imagination transforms everyday life into a vivid, inventive, and deeply moving adventure.
Description
Set in late-80s suburban Tokyo, 11-year-old Fuki is thrust into adolescence by the harsh realities surrounding her parents. Her father Kenji (Lily Franky) is suffering from a terminal illness, and her mother Utako (Hikari Ishida) is overburdened by the consequences. For Fuki (Yui Suzuki), the specter of death begins manifesting in various corners of her daily life, leading her to seek a respite from engulfing tragedy with her irrepressible imagination. Chie Hiyakawa expands on her meditation on mortality, first explored in Plan 75, offering a distinctly arresting perspective centered on Suzuki’s outstanding performance where she channels grief in ways that feels wholly new and hauntingly truthful. Renoir serves as a provocative meditation on the ponderosity of life and ultimately what imbues it with meaning. —Jordan Klein
Biographies
Born in Tokyo, Chie Hayakawa studied photography at School of Visual Arts in New York. Her short, Niagara (2014), was selected in the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation section and received awards in numerous international film festivals. Her short Plan 75 opened the anthology feature Ten Years Japan (2018). She expanded the short into her feature debut Plan 75 (2022), which was awarded Cannes’ Camera d’Or Special Mention, Best Director at Thessaloniki, and numerous other festival awards.
