Subscribe today using voucher code SUMMER22 for an extended free trial

This film is part of Rentals

Still the Water 15 rating

Naomi Kawase’s visually ravishing, beautifully composed film tells the story of two youths growing up and falling in love on a Japanese island.

Romance 2014 119 mins

Director: Naomi Kawase

Overview

Naomi Kawase’s visually ravishing, beautifully composed film tells the story of two youths, Kyoto and Kaito, as they grow up and fall in love on a small island off the Japanese mainland.

A film of magnificent natural beauty and philosophical depth, it contrasts its young protagonists burgeoning romance with other relationships – and lives – that are drawing to a close. Kyoto’s mother is a shaman with a terminal illness, seeing out her days in the shade of the family’s 400-year-old banyan tree, while Kaito's parents adjust to the reality of their recent separation.

Beautifully composed and deeply moving, Still the Water continues the humanist, family-oriented traditions of classic Japanese cinema in assured, visually intoxicating style.