ⒸKUMIE／Celluloid Dreams Production／Visual Arts College Osaka
La nature au galop / Les vivants et les morts
La Foret De Mogari
2007 / Japan, France / 97min / Color / 35mm
Director / Writer / Producer: Naomi Kawase
Cinematography: Hideyo Nakano
Lighting: Masami Imura
Sound: Ao Shigetake
Art Director: Toshihiro Isomi
Music: Masamichi Shigeno
Piano: Haruka Sakamaki
Cast: Shigeki Uda, Machiko Ono, Makiko Watanabe, Kanako Masuda, Yoichiro Saito
Distributor: KUMIE Inc.
In a mountainous rural area of Japan is a nursing home in a renovated old house. In it live several caretakers and residents including Shigeki, an elderly widower suffering from dementia, who has been lost in memories of his wife since she died 33 years earlier. Machiko, a new caregiver on the staff, has lost her child, separated from her husband, and gone into an emotional shell. The two of them, both grieving, gradually and haltingly forge a personal bond, and one day they set off together to visit the grave of Shigeki’s wife. The place they find themselves is the mourning forest of the title, and the two venture further and further into its depths, searching for traces of the departed.
The film was shot in the mountains of eastern Nara Prefecture, and the tranquil yet sensual natural environment is portrayed with stunning beauty. Naomi Kawase, who has consistently dealt with the themes of life, death, and family, won the Grand Prix for this film at the 60th Cannes Film Festival in 2007.