On Mihama, one of Tokyo's outlying islands, Shinji witnesses the rape of his girlfriend and middle-school classmate, Haruka, then commits an irreversible crime. But the following day, the island is besieged by a tidal wave which wipes out everything. Twenty-five years later, Shinji has a wife and daughter. A childhood friend, Tasuku, presents himself to Shinji and discloses the real truth of his hidden past. Shinji will have to try and protect Haruka again.
Direction
Ōmori's unflinching gaze refuses to let characters off the hook.
Cinematography
The island itself becomes a character—claustrophobic, then annihilated.
Director
Tatsushi Ōmori
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ōmori adapted this from a novel by award-winning author Hideo Yokoyama, known for interrogating Japanese institutional failures.
Released six years after the 2011 Tōhoku disaster, the film's tsunami imagery carries unavoidable real-world weight—some critics called it exploitative, others necessary.
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